DAYBREAK

DAYBREAK
JAMES COWAN∗
1
∗ PDF created by pdfbooks.co.za
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CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I. AN ASTRONOMER
ROYAL.
CHAPTER II. A FALLEN
SATELLITE.
3
CHAPTER III. TWO MEN
IN THE MOON.
CHAPTER IV. AND ONE
WOMAN.
CHAPTER V. OUR INTRO-
DUCTION TO MARS.
CHAPTER VI. A REMARK-
ABLE PEOPLE.
CHAPTER VII. RAPID TRAN-
SIT ON MARS.
CHAPTER VIII. THOR-
WALD PUZZLED.
CHAPTER IX. THORWALD
AS A PROPHET.
CHAPTER X. MORE WORLDS
THAN TWO.
DAYBREAK: A ROMANCE OF AN OLD
WORLD
CHAPTER I.
AN ASTRONOMER ROYAL.
It was an evening in early autumn in
the last year of the nineteenth century. We
4
were nearing the close of a voyage as calm
and peaceful as our previous lives.
Margaret had been in Europe a couple
of years and I had just been over to bring
her home, and we were now expecting to
reach New York in a day or two.
Margaret and I were the best of friends.
Indeed, we had loved each other from our
earliest recollection. No formal words of be-
5
trothal had ever passed between us, but for
years we had spoken of our future marriage
as naturally as if we were the most regularly
engaged couple in the world.
”Walter,” asked Margaret in her impul-
sive way, ”at what temperature does mer-
cury melt?”
”Well, to hazard a guess,” I replied, ”I
should say about one degree above its freez-
6
ing point. Why, do you think of making an
experiment?”
”Yes, on you. And I am going to begin
by being very frank with you. You have
made me a number of hurried visits during
my stay in Europe, but we have seen more
of each other in the course of this voyage
than for two long years. I trust you will
not be oﬀended when I say I hoped to ﬁnd
7
you changed. I have never spoken to you
about this, even in my letters, and it is only
because I am a little older now, and because
my love for you has increased with every
day of life, that I have the courage to frame
these words.”
”Do tell me what it is,” I exclaimed,
thoroughly alarmed at her serious manner.
”Let me know how I have disappointed you
8
and I will make what amends I can. Tell
me the nature of the change you have been
looking for and I will begin the transforma-
tion at once, before my character becomes
ﬁxed.”
”Alas! and if it should be already ﬁxed,”
she replied, without a smile. ”Perhaps it is
unreasonable in me to expect it in you as a
man, when you had so little of it as a boy;
9
but I used to think it was only shyness then,
and always hoped you would outgrow that
and gradually become an ideal lover. You
have such a multitude of other perfections,
however, that it may be nature has denied
you this so that I may be reminded that you
are human. If the choice had been left with
me I think I should have preferred to leave
out some other quality in the make-up of
10
your character, good as they all are.”
”What bitter pill is this,” I asked, ”that
you are sugar-coating to such an extent?
Don’t you see that I am aching to begin
the improvement in my manners, as soon
as you point out the direction?”
”You must know what I mean from my
ﬁrst abrupt question,” she answered. ”To
make an extreme comparison, frozen mer-
11
cury is warm beside you, Walter. If you are
really to be loyal knight of mine I must send
you on a quest for your heart.”
”Ah, I supposed it was understood that
I had given it to you.”
”I have never seen it,” she continued,
”and you have never before said as much as
is contained in those last words. Here we
are, talking of many things we shall do after
12
we are married, and yet you have nothing
to say of all that wonderful and beautiful
world of romance that ought to come before
marriage. Is this voyage to come to an end
and mean no more to us than to these hun-
dreds of passengers around us, who seem
only intent to get back to their work at
the earliest possible moment? And is our
wedding day to approach and pass and be
13
looked upon merely as part of the neces-
sary and becoming business of our lives? In
short, am I never to hear a real love note?”
”Margaret, I have a sister. You know
something of the depth of my aﬀection for
her. When I meet her in New York to-
morrow or next day, if I should throw my
arms around her neck and exclaim, in im-
passioned tones, ’My sister, I love you,’ what
14
would she think of me?”
”She would think you had left your senses
on the other side,” replied Margaret, laugh-
ing. ”But I decline to accept the parallel. I
have not given up my heart to your keeping
these many years to be only a sister to you
at last.”
”But my mother! Is it possible for me
to love you more than my mother loved me?
15
And yet I never heard her speak one word
on the subject, and, now that I think of it,
I am not sure but words would have cheap-
ened her aﬀection in my mind. You do not
doubt me, Margaret?”
”No more than you doubted your mother,
although she never told her love. No, it is
not so serious as that; but I wish you were
more demonstrative, Walter.”
16
”What, in words? Isn’t there something
that speaks louder than words?”
”Yes, but let us hear the words, too.
There is a beautiful proverb in India which
says, ’Words are the daughters of earth and
deeds are the sons of heaven.’ That is true,
but let us not try to pass through life with-
out enjoying the company of some of the
’daughters of earth.’”
17
”I will confess this much, Margaret, that
your words are one of your principal charms.”
”Oh, do you really think so? I con-
sider that a great compliment from you, for
I have often tried to repress myself, fear-
ing that my impulsive and sometimes pas-
sionate speech would oﬀend your taste, you
who are outwardly so cold. Do you know, I
have a whole vocabulary of endearing terms
18
ready to be poured into your ears as soon
as you begin to give me encouragement?”
”Then teach me how to encourage you,
and I will certainly begin at once. Shall
we seek some retired spot, where we can
be free from observation, and then shall I
seize your hand, fall on my knees, and, in
vehement and extravagant words, declare a
passion which you already know I have, just
19
as well as you know I am breathing at this
moment?”
”Good!” cried Margaret. ”That’s almost
as ﬁne as the real scene. So you have a pas-
sion for me. I really think you are improv-
ing.”
Before going on with this conversation,
let me tell you a little more about Margaret
and my relations to her.
20
There was good cause for her complaint.
I was at that time a sort of animated ici-
cle, as far as my emotional nature was con-
cerned. But although I could not express
my feelings to Margaret in set phrase, I do
not mind saying to you that I loved her
dearly, or thought I did, which was the same
thing for the time being. I loved her as well
as I was capable of loving anybody. What
21
I lacked Margaret more than made up, for
she was the warmest-hearted creature in all
the world. If I should begin to enumerate
her perfections of person and character I
should never care to stop.
Her educational advantages had been far
above the average, and she had improved
them in a manner to gratify her friends and
create for herself abundant mental resources.
22
She had taken the full classical course at
Harvard, carrying oﬀ several of the high
prizes, had then enjoyed two years of post-
graduate work at Clark, and ﬁnally spent
two more years in foreign travel and study.
As has been intimated, I had been over for
her, and we were now on our way home, ex-
pecting to land on the morrow or the day
after.
23
If you imagine that Margaret had lost
anything by her education or was less ﬁt-
ted to make a good home, it is because you
never knew her. Instead of being stunted in
her growth, broken in constitution, round-
shouldered, pale-faced and weak-eyed, the
development of her body had kept pace with
the expansion of her mind, and she was now
in the perfect ﬂower of young womanhood,
24
with body and soul both of generous mold.
Her marvelous beauty had been reﬁned and
heightened by her intellectual culture, and
even her manners, so charming before, were
now more than ever the chaste and well-
ordered adornments of a noble character.
She was as vivacious and sparkling as if she
had never known the restraints of school,
but without extravagance of any kind to de-
25
tract from her self-poise. In short, she was
a symphony, a grand and harmonious com-
position, and still human enough to love a
mortal like me. Such was the woman who
was trying to instill into my wooing a little
of the warmth and sympathy of her delight-
ful nature. As for myself, it will be neces-
sary to mention only a single characteris-
tic. I had a remarkably good ear, as we say.
26
Not only was my sense of hearing unusu-
ally acute, but I had an almost abnormal
appreciation of musical sounds. Although
without the ability to sing or play and with-
out the habit of application necessary to
learn these accomplishments, I was, from
my earliest years, a great lover of music.
People who are born without the power of
nicely discriminating between sounds often
27
say they enjoy music, but these excellent
people do not begin to understand the in-
tense pleasure with which one listens, whose
auricular nerves are more highly developed.
But this rare and soul-stirring enjoyment is
many times accompanied, as in my case,
with acute suﬀering whenever the tympa-
num is made to resound with the slightest
discord. The most painful moments of my
28
life, physically speaking, have been those in
which I have been forced to listen to diaboli-
cal noises. A harsh, rasping sound has often
given me a pang more severe than neural-
gia, while even an uncultivated voice or an
instrument out of tune has jarred on my
sensitive nerves for hours.
My musical friends all hated me in their
hearts, for my peculiarity made me a mer-
29
ciless critic; and the most serious youth-
ful quarrel between Margaret and myself
arose from the same cause. Nature had
given Margaret a voice of rare sweetness
and a ﬁne musical taste, and her friends had
encouraged her in singing from her youth.
One day, before she had received much in-
struction, she innocently asked me to lis-
ten to a song she was studying, when I was
30
cruel enough to laugh at her and ridicule
the idea of her ever learning to sing cor-
rectly. This rudeness made such an impres-
sion on her girlish mind that, although she
forgave the oﬀense and continued to love
the oﬀender, she could never be induced
again to try her vocal powers before me. All
through her school and college days she de-
voted some attention to music, and while I
31
heard from others much about her advance-
ment and the extraordinary quality of her
voice, she always declared she would never
sing for me until she was sure she could put
me to shame for my early indiscretion, so
painfully present in her memory. This be-
came in time quite a feature of our long
courtship, for I was constantly trying to
have her break her foolish resolution and
32
let me hear her. Although unsuccessful, the
situation was not without a pleasurable in-
terest for me, for I knew it must end some
time, and in a way, no doubt, to give me
great enjoyment, judging from the accounts
which came to my ears. Margaret, too, was
well satisﬁed to let the aﬀair drift along
indeﬁnitely, while she anticipated with de-
light the surprise she was preparing for me.
33
During the years she had just been spend-
ing abroad a good share of her time had
been given to her musical studies, princi-
pally vocal culture, and in her letters she
provokingly quoted, for my consideration,
the ﬂattering comments of her instructors
and other acquaintances. She did this as
part of my punishment, trying to make me
realize how much pleasure I was losing. Each
34
time I crossed the ocean to visit her I ex-
pected she would relent, but I was as often
disappointed; and now this homeward voy-
age had almost come to an end, and I had
never heard her voice in song since she was
a child. Open and unreserved as she was by
nature, in this particular she had schooled
herself to be as reticent and undemonstra-
tive as she accused me of being.
35
Our talk on the subject of my shortcom-
ings, that evening on shipboard, had not
continued much longer before I acknowl-
edged in plain language that I knew my
fault and was ready to cooperate in any
scheme that could be suggested to cure it.
”What you need,” said Margaret, ”is
some violent sensation, some extraordinary
experience to stir your soul.”
36
”Yes,” I answered, ”my humdrum life,
my wealth, which came to me without any
eﬀort of my own, and the hitherto almost
unruﬄed character of my relations with you
have all conspired to make me satisﬁed with
an easy and rather indolent existence. I re-
alize I need a shaking up. I want to forget
myself in some novel experience, which shall
engross all my attention for a time and draw
37
upon my sympathies if I have any.”
”But what can one do in ’this weak pip-
ing time of peace’ ? There are no maidens
to be rescued from the enchantments of the
wizard, and it is no longer the fashion to
ride forth with sword and halberd to mur-
der in the name of honor all who oppose
themselves. No more dark continents wait
to be explored, neither is there novelty left
38
in searching the ocean’s depths nor in sail-
ing the sky above us. Civilized warfare it-
self, the only ﬁeld remaining where undying
fame may be purchased, seems likely to lose
its hold on men, and soon the arbitrator will
everywhere replace the commander-in-chief
and the noble art of war will degenerate into
the ignoble lawsuit. So even universal peace
may have its drawbacks.”
39
”That is quite suﬃcient in that line,”
said Margaret. ”Now let us come down to
something practicable.”
”Well, I might bribe the pilot to sink the
steamer when we are going up the bay, so
that I could have the opportunity of saving
your life.”
”It would be almost worth the trial if
it were not for the other people,” she re-
40
turned. ”Such a role would become you
immensely.”
”I regret that I cannot accommodate you,”
I said. ”But I have thought of something
which would be rather safer for you. How
would you like to have me fall desperately
in love with some pretty girl?”
”Just the thing,” exclaimed Margaret,
laughing and clapping her hands, ”if you
41
can only be sure she will not return your
passion.”
”Small chance of that,” I answered. ”So
you approve the plan, do you?”
”Certainly, if you care to try it. Lady
never held knight against his will. But have
you forgotten that, after the resources of
this planet are exhausted, as you seem to
think they are soon likely to be, you and
42
I have other worlds to conquer? Perhaps
in that work you may ﬁnd diversion power-
ful enough to draw you out of yourself and,
possibly, opportunities for some heart cul-
ture.”
I must explain that this was a reference
to a plan of life we were marking out for
ourselves. Margaret was an enthusiast on
the subject of astronomy. I would include
43
myself in the same remark, only the word
enthusiast did not ﬁt my temperament at
that time. But our tastes agreed perfectly
in that matter, and we had always read with
avidity everything we could ﬁnd on the sub-
ject. Margaret, however, was the student,
and as she had developed great proﬁciency
in mathematics, she had decided to make
astronomy her profession.
44
It was understood that I was to perform
the easier part of furnishing the money for
an observatory and instruments of our own,
and I was determined to keep pace with
Margaret in her studies as well as I could
in an amateurish way, so that she might
be able to retain me as an assistant. We
were to be married at sunrise sharp, on the
ﬁrst day of the next century, and to lay the
45
corner-stone of our observatory at the ex-
act moment of the summer solstice of the
same year. These were Margaret’s sugges-
tions, but even I was not averse to letting
my friends see I had a little sentiment.
That night I dreamed of almost every-
thing we had been talking about, but lay
awake at intervals, wondering if I could,
by force of will, work out the reform in
46
my character which Margaret desired. The
night passed, and it was just as I was ris-
ing that a thought ﬂashed upon me which
I determined to put into execution at the
ﬁrst opportunity. This came early the next
evening. As we expected to reach our wharf
soon, we had ﬁnished our packing, and were
now sitting alone in a retired spot on deck
on the starboard side. As soon as we were
47
comfortably arranged I said to my compan-
ion:
”Margaret, as this is the last evening of
this voyage, it makes an epoch in our lives.
Your school days are now over, and hence-
forth we hope to be together. Would not
this be a most appropriate time for me to be
introduced to a voice with which I propose
to spend the rest of my life? Last night you
48
were anxious to think of something which
would arouse my dormant heart and draw
out in more passionate expression my too
obscure aﬀections. Your words haunted my
sleeping and waking thoughts until it for-
tunately occurred to me that you yourself
had the very means for accomplishing my
reformation. You know how impressionable
I am to every wave of sound. Who knows
49
but your voice, which I am sure will be the
sweetest in the world to me, may be the in-
strument destined to stir my drowsy soul, to
loose my halting tongue, and even to force
my proud knees to bend before you? In
short, why not adopt my suggestion, break
your long-kept resolution, and sing for me
this moment? Is the possible result not
worth the trial?” To this long address, which
50
was a great eﬀort for me, Margaret answered:
”You surprise me already, Walter. If
the mere thought of hearing me sing can
prompt such a sentimental speech as that,
what would the song itself do? Perhaps it
would drive you to the other extreme, and
you would become gushing. Just think of
that. But, seriously, I am afraid you would
laugh at my voice and send me back to Ger-
51
many. When you were talking I thought I
could detect an undercurrent of fun in your
words.”
”I assure you I was never more in earnest
in my life, and I am sorry you will not sing.
Is your answer ﬁnal?”
”I think I will wait a little longer. We
are liable to be disturbed here. And now
that you have made a start, perhaps you
52
will improve in manners becoming a lover
without any more help.”
”No, I shall relapse and be worse than
ever. Now is your time to help me ﬁnd my
heart.”
Without answering, Margaret sprang up
impulsively, exclaiming:
”There! I have forgotten that book the
professor borrowed. Men never return any-
53
thing. I must go and get it, and put it into
my bag. And I had better run down and see
if auntie wants anything. You stay right
here; don’t move, and I’ll be back in just
three minutes.”
54
CHAPTER II.
A FALLEN SATELLITE.
I promised, and then settled myself more
comfortably into my steamer chair to await
Margaret’s return. The three minutes passed,
and she did not come. Evidently it was
hard to ﬁnd the professor, or perhaps he
was holding her, against her will, for a dis-
55
cussion of the book. At any rate, I could
do nothing but sit there, in that easy, half-
reclining position, and watch the full moon,
which had just risen, and was shining square
in my face, if that could be said of an object
that looked so round.
I fell into a deep reverie. My mind was
ﬁlled with contending emotions, and such
opposing objects as rolling worlds and lovely
56
maidens ﬂitted in dim images across my
mental vision. I loved the best woman on
the earth, and I wondered if any of those
other globes contained her equal. If so, then
perhaps some other man was as fortunate
as myself. I was drowsy, but determined to
keep awake and pursue this fancy. I remem-
ber feeling conﬁdent that I could not sleep
if I only kept my eyes open, and so I said I
57
would keep them ﬁxed on the bright face of
the moon. But how large it looked. Surely
something must be wrong with it, or was it
my memory that was at fault? I thought
the moon generally appeared smaller as it
rose further above the horizon, but now it
was growing bigger every minute. It was
coming nearer, too. Nearer, larger–why, it
was monstrous. I could not turn my eyes
58
away now, and everything else was forgot-
ten, swallowed up in that one awful sight.
How fast it grew. Now it ﬁlls half the sky
and makes me tremble with fear. Part of
it is still lighted by the sun, and part is
in dark, threatening shadow. I see pale
faces around me. Others are gazing, awe-
stricken, at the same object. We are in the
open street, and some have glasses, peer-
59
ing into the deep craters and caverns of the
surface.
I seemed to be a new-comer on the scene,
and could not help remarking to my nearest
neighbor:
”This is a strange sight. Do you think it
is real, or are we all bereft of our senses?”
”Strange indeed, but true,” he answered.
”But what does it mean?” And then,
60
assuming a gayety I did not feel, I asked
further: ”Does the moon, too, want to be
annexed to the United States?”
”You speak lightly, young man,” my neigh-
bor said, ”and do not appear to realize the
seriousness of our situation. Where have
you been, that you have not heard this mat-
ter discussed, and do not understand that
the moon is certain to come into collision
61
with the earth in a very short time?”
He seemed thoroughly alarmed, and I
soon found that all the people shared his
feeling. The movement of the earth carried
us out of sight of the moon in a few hours,
but after a brief rest everybody was on the
watch again at the next revolution. The
excitement over the behavior of our once
despised moon increased rapidly from this
62
time. Nothing else was talked of, business
was well-nigh suspended, and the newspa-
pers neglected everything else to tell about
the unparalleled natural phenomenon. Spec-
ulation was rife as to what would be the
end, and what eﬀect would follow a union
of the earth with its satellite.
While this discussion was going on, the
unwelcome visitor was approaching with no-
63
ticeable rapidity at every revolution of the
earth, and the immense dark shadow which
it now made, as it passed beneath the sun,
seemed ominous of an ill fate to our world
and its inhabitants. It was a time to try the
stoutest hearts, and, of course, the multi-
tude of the people were overwhelmed with
alarm. As no one could do anything to ward
oﬀ what seemed a certain catastrophe, the
64
situation was all the more dreadful. Men
could only watch the monster, speculate as
to the result, and wait, with horrible sus-
pense, for the inevitable. The circle of rev-
olution was now becoming so small that the
crisis was hourly expected. Men everywhere
left their houses and sought the shelterless
ﬁelds, and it was well they did so, for there
came a day when the earth received a sud-
65
den and awful shock. After it had passed,
people looked at each other wonderingly to
ﬁnd themselves alive, and began congratu-
lating each other, thinking the worst was
over. But the dreadful anxiety returned
when, after some hours, the moon again ap-
peared, a little tardy this time, but nearer
and more threatening than ever. The news
was afterwards brought that it had struck
66
the high mountain peaks of Central Asia,
tearing down their sides with the power of
a thousand glaciers and ﬁlling the valleys
below with ruin.
It was now felt that the end must soon
come, and this was true, for at the earth’s
very next revolution the tired and feeble
satellite, once the queen of the sky and the
poet’s glory, scraped across the continent
67
of South America, received the death blow
in collision with the Andes, careened, and
fell at last into the South Paciﬁc Ocean.
The shock given to the earth was tremen-
dous, but no other result was manifest ex-
cept that the huge mass displaced water
enough to submerge many islands and to re-
construct the shore lines of every continent.
There was untold loss of life and property,
68
of course, but it is astonishing how easily
those who were left alive accepted the new
state of things, when it was found that the
staid earth, in spite of the enormous wart
on her side, was making her daily revolution
almost with her accustomed regularity.
The lovers of science, however, were by
no means indiﬀerent to the new- comer. To
be able at last to solve all the problems of
69
the constitution and geography of the moon
was enough to ﬁll them with the greatest
enthusiasm. But, while thousands were ready
to investigate the mysterious visitor, one
great diﬃculty stood in the way of all progress.
It seemed impossible to get a foothold on
the surface. The great globe rose from the
waves on all sides at such an angle on ac-
count of its shape that a lodgment could not
70
easily be made. Ships sailed under the over-
hanging sides, and in a calm sea they would
send out their boats, which approached near
enough to secure huge specimens. These
were broken into fragments and were soon
sold on the streets of every city.
The ﬁrst to really set foot on the dead
satellite were some adventurous advertisers,
who shot an arrow and cord over a pro-
71
jecting crag, pulled a rope after it, and ﬁ-
nally drew themselves up, and soon the lu-
nar cliﬀs were put to some practical use,
blazoning forth a few staring words. These
men could not go beyond their narrow stand-
ing place, for the general curve of the sur-
face, although broken up by many irregu-
larities, presented no opportunities for the
most skillful climbing.
72
But it was impossible that, with the moon
so near, the problem of reaching it could
long remain unsolved. Dr. Schwartz, an
eminent scientist, was the ﬁrst to suggest
that it must be approached in a balloon,
and at the same time he announced that he
would be one of two men, if another could
be found, to undertake to eﬀect a landing
in that way. Here, I saw, was my oppor-
73
tunity. I had often dreamed of visiting the
moon and other heavenly bodies, and now
here was a chance to go in reality. I had
some acquaintance with Dr. Schwartz, and
my prompt application for the vacant place
in the proposed expedition was successful.
The doctor kindly wrote me that my en-
thusiasm in the cause was just what he was
looking for, and he was sure I would prove a
74
plucky and reliable companion. The matter
attracted so much attention that the United
States Government, moved to action by the
public nature of the enterprise, took it up
and oﬀered to bear all the expense of the
equipment and carrying out of the expedi-
tion. Encouraged by this assistance, the
doctor began his plans at once. All rec-
ognized that one great object was to settle
75
the question as to the existence of life on
the other side of the moon; for, in spite of
its rude collisions with mountains and con-
tinents before it rested as near the heart
of the earth as it could get, it had insisted,
with an almost knowing perversity, in keep-
ing its old, familiar face next to us. To solve
this problem might take much time, and so
we determined to go so well prepared that,
76
if we once reached the upper surface of the
moon, we could stay as long as our errand
demanded.
It was decided to make the ascent from
a town near the coast of the southern part
of Chile, and thither we went with our bal-
loon, some scientiﬁc apparatus, and a large
quantity of dried provisions. We took with
us also papers from the State Department
77
showing that we were accredited agents from
our Government to the inhabitants of the
moon, if we should ﬁnd any. Our arrange-
ments were speedily made, and on a still,
bright morning we bade adieu to our friends
who had accompanied us thus far, mounted
our car, and set sail.
We left the earth with light hearts, ex-
cited with the novel and interesting charac-
78
ter of the enterprise, and but little realizing
its diﬃculty and danger. Ordinary balloon
journeys had become frequent, and the evo-
lution of the air ship had almost passed be-
yond the experimental stage, but nothing
like our present undertaking had ever been
attempted.
Our starting place was far enough from
the resting point of the moon to enable us to
79
clear the rounded side, but in order to reach
the equatorial line of the fallen globe we
would be obliged to ascend over a thousand
miles.
The fact that we were not appalled by
the mere thought of rising to such a height
shows how thoroughly we were carried away
with the excitement. But we were better
prepared for a lofty ﬂight than might be
80
supposed. For among the recent wonders
of science had been the invention of an air-
condensing machine, by which the rareﬁed
atmosphere of the upper regions could be
converted into good food for the lungs. These
machines had been successfully tested more
than once by voyagers of the air, but the
present occasion promised to give them a
much more severe trial than they had yet
81
received. And, indeed, it is impossible to
imagine how we could have survived with-
out them. Another important aid to science
rendered by this air-condensing apparatus
is that in the process of condensation water
is produced in suﬃcient quantities to drink.
Our little car was tightly inclosed, and we
took enough surplus gas with us to keep it
comfortably warm. So, with plenty of food,
82
air, water, and fuel, we were pretty well pre-
pared for a long journey.
Our instruments, placed just outside the
glass sides of the car, told us how fast we
were rising and what height we had reached
from time to time, and as we left the denser
atmosphere of the earth we were gratiﬁed to
ﬁnd that we continued to rise rapidly. On
one side of us we could see the rugged sur-
83
face of the moon, now, on account of its
rounded form, drawing nearer to us every
hour as we approached the point where we
hoped to land. We thought it best to try to
pass the center and land, if possible, some-
where on the upper hemisphere, which was
the part of the monstrous object that we
wanted to investigate. But when at length
we thought we were about to ﬂy past the
84
moon’s equator successfully, an unexpected
thing happened.
If we suppose the moon was resting, at
the bottom of the ocean, on one of its poles,
we were going toward the equatorial line,
and we thought we should not be able to
retain a foothold anywhere below that line
certainly. But now, what was our surprise
to ﬁnd ourselves under some mysterious in-
85
ﬂuence. Our balloon refused to obey us as
heretofore, and in spite of rudder and sail
we were drifting about, and appeared to
be going toward the moon’s surface sooner
than we had intended.
In scientiﬁc emergencies I deferred to
my companion, and now asked for an ex-
planation of this erratic behavior of our bal-
loon. Instead of replying at once, the doctor
86
stooped and cut a ﬁne wire, which released
one of the sand bags suspended for ballast
from the bottom of our car, and told me to
watch it. We both watched it, and instead
of starting with rapidity for the center of
the earth, as all well-conducted sand bags
have done from the beginning of the world,
it seemed to hesitate and ﬂoat around a
minute, as though it were no more than
87
a handful of feathers. And then, slowly
at ﬁrst, but soon more and more swiftly,
forgetting its birthplace and its old mother
earth, it fell unblushingly toward the moon.
Intent on watching the ﬁckle sand bag,
we did not at ﬁrst notice that our whole
conveyance was practicing the same unhand-
some maneuver. But we soon became aware
that we had changed allegiance also. We
88
had started with the earth at our feet and
the moon looming up on one side of us, but
here we were now riding with the moon un-
der us and the earth away oﬀ at our side.
My fellow in this strange experience now
found his voice.
”You doubtless realize,” said he, ”what
has taken place. We are now so far from
the earth that its attraction is very weak
89
and the nearer mass of the moon is drawing
us.”
”That is quite evident,” I said, ”but you
seem as unconcerned about it as if such a
trip as this were an everyday aﬀair with
you.”
”I am not at all indiﬀerent to the won-
derful character of this journey,” he replied,
”but its scientiﬁc value swallows up all per-
90
sonal considerations.”
I believed this to be true, and I will say
right here that in all our future experiences
the doctor showed the same indiﬀerence to
everything like fear, and seemed content to
go to any length in the interest of science.
We were now able to govern our move-
ments by the ordinary methods of balloon-
ing, and after sailing over the surface of the
91
moon a few hours, studying its rugged out-
lines, we began to think of selecting a place
for landing. There was no water to be seen
and no forests nor other vegetation, but ev-
erywhere were huge mountains and deep
valleys, all as bare and uninviting as it is
possible to imagine.
But it would not do to turn a cold shoul-
der to her now, and so we descended grace-
92
fully to make her close acquaintance, cast
out our anchor, and were soon on the moon
in reality.
CHAPTER III.
TWO MEN IN THE MOON.
”Well, Doctor,” said I, as soon as our
93
feet touched the ground, ”the moon is in-
habited now if never before.”
”Yes, yes,” he answered, ”and I am glad
to ﬁnd the inhabitants are of such a lively
disposition.”
”Oh, who can help being light-hearted,”
I rejoined, ”when one’s body is so light?”
For as soon as we left our car we began
to have the queerest sensations of lightness.
94
We felt as if we were standing on springs,
which the least motion would set oﬀ and
up we would go toward the sky. Every-
thing we handled had but a small fraction
of the weight it would possess on the earth,
and our great air-condensing machines we
carried about with ease. But however high
we might jump we always returned to the
ground, and whether we were on top of the
95
moon or on the bottom of it, it was pretty
certain that we could not fall oﬀ, any more
than we could have fallen oﬀ the earth be-
fore we voluntarily but so rashly left it.
My exhilaration of spirit did not last,
for I could not help thinking of our condi-
tion. The law of gravitation surely held us,
although with less force than we had been
accustomed to, on account of the smaller
96
size of the moon; and how were we to get
away from it?
I again appealed to my companion.
”I do not like the idea of spending the
rest of our lives on the moon, Doctor, but
can you tell me how we are to prevent it?
Can we ever get back within the earth’s at-
traction again?”
”I have been pondering the subject my-
97
self,” he replied, ”and I think I can give you
some hope of seeing home once more. If
our old measurements of the moon are cor-
rect, and if we are, as I suppose, somewhere
near the equator, we must be about ﬁfteen
hundred miles from the earth, following the
curve of the moon’s surface. Now, after
we have ﬁnished our investigations here, we
can start for home on foot. We can cover a
98
good many miles a day, since walking can be
no burden here, and we can easily tow our
balloon along. As we approach the earth,
my impression is that we shall become more
and more light-footed, for we shall be grad-
ually getting back to the earth’s attraction.
Somewhere between this point and our planet
there must be a spot where the attraction
of both bodies will be equal, and we can
99
stay on the moon or drop oﬀ and return to
the earth in our balloon as we please.”
”What a curious idea,” I answered; ”and
yet, considering the strange behavior of our
sand bag, I don’t know but you are right.
And I have only one suggestion to make;
that is, that we start earthward at once
and try the experiment. Let the investiga-
tions go. If there are any inhabitants here
100
they will never miss us, since we haven’t
made their acquaintance yet. Science or no
science, I object to remaining any longer
than necessary in this uncertainty in re-
gard to our future. You know very well
we couldn’t live long in this temperature
and with nothing for our lungs but what
comes through these horrid machines. And
what good would come of our discoveries
101
if we are never to get back to the earth
again? I profess to have as much courage
left as the ordinary mortal would have, but
in the present circumstances I believe no
one would blame us for wanting to settle
this question at once.”
”It would seem a triﬂe ridiculous,” said
the doctor in reply to this harangue, ”for
us to return to our planet without any fur-
102
ther eﬀort to accomplish our errand. But I
will not deny that I share something of your
feeling, and I will start with you right away,
on condition that you will return here if we
ﬁnd that I am correct in believing we can
leave the moon at our pleasure.”
”Agreed,” I cried, and we were soon on
our way.
So far we had been exposed to the sun
103
and were almost scorched by the intensity
of its rays. We had never experienced any-
thing like such heat and would not have
supposed the human body could endure it.
But now, soon after we had started to ﬁnd
the place where the moon would let go of
us, the sun set and, with scarcely a minute’s
warning, we were plunged into darkness and
cold. The darkness was relieved by the ex-
104
ceedingly brilliant appearance of the stars,
the sky fairly blazing with them, but the
cold was almost unendurable even for the
few moments in which we were exposed to
it. We secured our car as speedily as possi-
ble, climbed into it, and got a little warmth
from our gas heater.
These extremes of temperature convinced
us that no life such as we were acquainted
105
with could exist a great while on the moon.
We found we could make no progress at
all by night. We could only shut ourselves
up and wait for the sun to come. In try-
ing to keep warm we would work our air-
condensers harder than usual, and the wa-
ter thus produced we would freeze in little
cakes, and have them to help mitigate the
burning heat a short time the next day.
106
The country through which we were trav-
eling was made up of bold mountain peaks
and deep ravines. There was no sign of veg-
etation and not even the soil for it to grow
in, but everywhere only hard, metallic rock
that showed unmistakably the action of ﬁre.
And so it was with the greatest diﬃculty
that we made our way earthward, although
there was so little eﬀort needed in walking.
107
As I pondered the doctor’s idea, it seemed
to me more and more that he must be right.
We were certainly held to the moon where
we were by gravitation. It was just as true
that near the surface of the earth its su-
perior attraction would draw all objects to
itself. Accordingly, if we kept on our way,
why should we not in time come to a place
where we could throw ourselves once more
108
under the inﬂuence of the old earth, now
becoming very dear to us?
Thinking chieﬂy of this subject and talk-
ing of it every day, we labored on, and ﬁ-
nally were wonderfully encouraged with the
belief that we were actually walking easier
and everything was becoming lighter. Soon
this belief became a certainty, and, since
leaping was no eﬀort, we leaped with joy
109
and hope.
And now how shall I describe our sen-
sations as we went bounding along, hardly
touching the ground, until we ﬁnally came
to the place where it was not necessary to
touch the ground at all? Now we knew that
by going only a little further we should be
able to mount our car and set sail for the
earth again. But with this knowledge we
110
lost at once much of our desire, and thought
we would not hasten our departure. Here
we were, absolutely ﬂoating in the air, and
it maybe believed that the feeling was as
delicious as it was unique. Using our hands
as ﬁns we could with the slightest eﬀort sail
around at pleasure, resting in any position
we chose to take, truly a most luxurious ex-
perience.
111
”How shall we make our friends believe
all this when we try to tell them about it,
Doctor?” said I.
”The best way to make them believe
it,” he replied, ”is to bring them up here
and let them try it for themselves. I pro-
pose to organize an expedition on our re-
turn and bring up a large party. We could
manage to land somewhere in this vicinity,
112
I think, instead of going up as far as you
and I did. What a place this would be for
summer vacations! The moon is a ﬁxture
now; it cannot get away. I am sure of that,
for the law of gravitation will never release
it. So we may as well make what use of it we
can, and these delightful sensations will no
doubt form the most important discovery
that we shall ever make on this dried-up and
113
worn-out satellite. You know many people
are willing to put themselves to much incon-
venience and to undergo many hardships for
the sake of a change from the monotony of
home life. If we can induce them to come up
here for a few weeks, and if they can endure
this rather erratic climate, they will ﬁnd
change enough to break up the monotony
for one year, I think.”
114
After enjoying this rare exercise to our
content, we began preparing for the night
which was now coming on. The doctor had
reminded me of my promise to return to our
former position on the moon, and we agreed
to set out the next day. Having fastened
our car securely to the ground, so that we
might not drift oﬀ toward the earth, we en-
tered it and made ourselves as comfortable
115
as possible.
Our resting place was near the center of
what seemed to be an immense crater, and
some time before morning we were roused
by a violent shaking of the ground beneath
us, which startled us beyond expression.
”What’s that?” I exclaimed.
”That feels very much like a moon-quake,”
replied my companion.
116
I was terribly frightened, but resolved to
follow the doctor’s example and make light
of what we could not help.
So I said:
”But I thought the lunar volcanoes were
all dead ages ago. I hope we haven’t camped
in the crater of one that is likely to go oﬀ
again.”
”My opinion is,” answered the doctor,
117
”that there is still water inside the moon
which is gradually freezing. That operation
would sometimes crack the surface, and this
has probably caused the quaking that we
have felt.”
While we were talking the wind began
to blow, and soon, although it was long be-
fore time for the sun to rise, we suddenly
emerged from darkness into bright sunlight.
118
We sprang up instinctively to look about us
and try to discover what this could mean,
when what was our consternation to ﬁnd
ourselves adrift!
There, in full view of our wondering eyes,
was the whole, round earth, hanging in space,
and where were we? Then we began to
realize gradually that the trembling of the
ground was the grating of the moon against
119
the earth as it left its resting place, and the
wind was caused by our motion.
The novelty of the situation took away
for a time the sense of fear, and I exclaimed:
”Another scientiﬁc certainty gone to smash!
I thought you said the moon could never get
away from the earth. What are we going to
do now?”
”Well,” replied the doctor, ”this is cer-
120
tainly something I never dreamed of in my
philosophy. I didn’t see how the moon could
be drawn away from the earth when once
actually attached to it, but I suppose the
sun and planets all happen to be pulling in
one direction just now and are proving too
much for the earth’s attraction. But what
concerns us more at this time is covered by
your question, ’What are we going to do
121
now?’ And I will answer that I think we
will stick to the moon for a while. You can
see for yourself that we are held here much
more ﬁrmly than when we were disporting
ourselves in the air yesterday, and the earth
is now too far away for us to throw ourselves
and our balloon within its attraction.”
I knew by the feeling of increasing weight
that what my companion said must be true,
122
but we could not then appreciate the dread-
ful nature of our condition, so wrapped up
were we in the grandeur of the object before
our eyes. To those who have never been on
the moon in such circumstances it will be
impossible to adequately describe our feel-
ings as we gazed upon our late home and
knew that we were fast drifting away from
it.
123
There the round globe hung, as I had
often pictured it in my imagination– oceans
and continents, mountains, lakes, and rivers,
all spread out before us–the greatest object
lesson ever seen by the eye of man. As we
studied it, recognizing feature after feature,
lands and waters that we knew by their fa-
miliar shape, the doctor broke our reverie
with these words, evidently with the en-
124
deavor to keep up my spirits:
”That looks as natural as a map, doesn’t
it? You have seen globes with those divi-
sions pictured on them, but there is the
globe itself. If our summer tourists could
take in this experience also, it would make a
vacation worth having. Isn’t it grand? I see
you are thinking about our personal peril,
but I think I know men who would take the
125
risk and put themselves in our place for the
sake of this magniﬁcent view.”
”If you know of any way to send for one
of those friends, I wish you would do so,”
I replied. ”I would willingly give him my
place.”
It may be believed that we were all this
time anxiously watching the earth, and it
did not lessen our anxiety to realize that we
126
were traveling very rapidly away from it. I
had reached a point now where I did not
place much dependence upon the doctor’s
science, but to get some expression of his
thoughts I said to him:
”Well, have you any opinion about our
fate? Are we doomed to pass the remain-
der of our lives circling around our dear old
earth, looking upon her face day by day but
127
never to approach her again?”
”I think you have stated the case about
as it is,” said he, ”if, indeed, this rate of
speed does not carry us entirely beyond the
earth’s attraction, out into illimitable space.”
The thought of such an additional catas-
trophe silenced me, especially as I could not
deny its possibility. Life on the moon, if
we could only keep the earth in sight even,
128
seemed almost endurable now, beside the
idea that we might be cast out to shift for
ourselves, without a tie save such as the uni-
versal law of gravitation might ﬁnd for us
somewhere.
It must not be imagined that our con-
versation was carried on with ease or that
we were half enjoying our novel situation.
We were simply trying to make the best of
129
a very bad matter. Not long after we had
started the wind had taken away the bal-
loon part of our air ship, and now threat-
ened every moment to tear the car from its
moorings and end our unhappy career at
once. Besides this impending catastrophe,
it was with the greatest diﬃculty that we
could get air enough to ﬁll our lungs, but
the cold was so intense whenever our side
130
of the moon was turned away from the sun
that we needed the severe labor on our con-
densers to keep us from freezing.
Meantime, our speed increasing every
hour, the planet that had once been our
home was growing smaller before our eyes.
At length we were ﬂying through space at
such a rate that we could not suppress our
fears that the terrible suggestion of the doc-
131
tor’s would be realized. We had both made
a mental calculation as to how large the
earth ought to look from the moon at its
normal distance, and as it approached that
size we could not hide our anxiety from each
other. Without a word from the doctor I
could see by his face that hope was fast
leaving him, and as we were now going more
rapidly than ever I felt that we had nothing
132
to do but accept our fate.
In regard to such intensity of feeling at
this stage of our experience, it maybe ob-
jected that our condition was hopeless any-
way, and it could make no diﬀerence whether
we remained within the earth’s inﬂuence
or not. But in spite of our desperate sit-
uation we had some sentiment remaining.
The earth was the only home we had ever
133
known, and I am not ashamed to say that
we did not like to lose sight of it; especially
as there was not the slightest possibility
that we should ever see it again, unless, in-
deed, our moon should turn into a comet
with eccentric orbit, and so bring us back
at some future day–a very unlikely occur-
rence, as all will admit who know anything
about moons and comets.
134
Our speed did not lessen but rather in-
creased as we gradually broke away from
the earth’s attraction, and the dear old earth
was fast becoming a less signiﬁcant object
in our sky. If our situation was lonesome
before, it was now desolation itself.
”Doctor,” said I, when I could control
my emotions enough to speak, ”where now?”
”Well,” he replied, with a grim attempt
135
at a smile, ”my opinion is not worth much
in our present strange circumstances, but it
seems to me we are on our way either to the
sun or one of the large planets.”
I did not reply, and we both soon found
it wise to expend no unnecessary breath in
talking. The ether was now so thin that it
took oceans of it, literally, to make enough
air to keep us alive.
136
Our provisions were nearly exhausted,
our strength was failing, and I really believe
we would not have lived many days had not
something occurred to divert our minds and
to relieve some of our physical discomforts.
137
CHAPTER IV.
AND ONE WOMAN.
At the time we tied our car to the rocks,
to prevent us from drifting away from the
earth, we did not anticipate that the fasten-
ings would receive any very severe strain,
but now the velocity of the wind was such
that there was great danger of our breaking
138
away. The moon was not a very hospitable
place, to be sure, as we had thus far found
it, but still we preferred it to the alternative
of ﬂying oﬀ into space in our glass car and
becoming a new species of meteor.
And yet it seemed to be courting in-
stant death to attempt to leave the car and
seek for other shelter. We could not decide
which course to take. Both were so full of
139
peril that there seemed to be no possible
safety in either.
As I review our situation now, and think
of us spinning along on that defunct world
we knew not whither, with no ray of light
to illumine the darkness of our future or
show us the least chance of escape from our
desperate plight, it is astonishing to me that
we did not give up all hope and lie down
140
and die at once. It only shows what the
human body can endure and of what stuﬀ
our minds are made. I think it would not
be making a rash statement to say that no
man ever found himself in a worse situation
and survived.
But help was nearer than we supposed.
From what we had seen of the moon we
could not have imagined a more unexpected
141
thing than that which happened to us then.
Suddenly, above the roar of the wind and
the thumping of our car on the rocks, even
above the tumult of our spirits, there came
to us the strains of more than earthly mu-
sic. Whether it was from voice or instru-
ment we could not tell, and in its sweetness
and power it was absolutely indescribable.
At ﬁrst we did not try to discover its source
142
but were content to sit and quietly enjoy
it, as it fell gently upon us, pervading our
whole being and so ﬁlling us with courage
and strength that we seemed to be trans-
formed into new men.
Then, wondering if we could discover
from whence the notes came, we turned and
looked about us, when there was revealed to
us a vision of beauty which ﬁlled and satis-
143
ﬁed the sense of sight as completely as our
ears had been enchanted with the angelic
music.
Not far from our car, with her ﬂowing
garments nearly torn from her in the ﬁerce-
ness of the gale, was a young girl, stretching
out her hands imploringly toward us and
pouring forth her voice in that exquisite
song. We soon discovered it was not for
144
herself that she was anxious, but for us; for
when she observed that she had attracted
our attention she smiled and turned to go
back the way she had come, beckoning us
with hand and eye to follow her, and still
singing her sweet but unintelligible words.
Perhaps I ﬂattered myself, but I thought
she was looking at me more than at my
companion, and I began with great eager-
145
ness to unfasten the door of the car.
”Wait!” cried the doctor. ”Where are
you going?”
I could not stop an instant, but answered
with feeling:
”Going? I am going wherever she is go-
ing. I’ll follow her to the end of the moon
if necessary, though the surface be every-
where as bleak as our own north pole.”
146
”Well,” he replied, ”if it is such a des-
perate case as that, I’ll have to go along to
take care of you.”
I found that when such a woman beck-
ons and such a voice calls there is but one
thing to do. The sirens were not to be
mentioned in comparison. Twenty thou-
sand hurricanes could not have prevented
me from attempting to follow where she led
147
as long as I had breath.
We reached the ground in safety, and
with the greatest diﬃculty made our way
in the footsteps of our guide, leaving all our
possessions behind us, to the doctor’s mur-
mured regret. And now the words of the
singer seemed to take on a joyous meaning,
and we could almost distinguish her invita-
tion to follow her to a place where the wind
148
did not blow and where our present trou-
bles would be over. She kept well in the
lead but walked only as fast as our strength
would allow, looking back constantly to en-
courage us with her smile and ravishing one
heart at least with the melody of her song.
Presently we came to the edge of an im-
mense crater, hundreds of feet deep and as
empty and cold as all the others we had
149
seen on the moon. Instead of going around
this, our leader chose a narrow ravine and
took us down the steep side to the bottom
of the crater. We supposed she did this just
to give us protection from the wind, and we
were very much sheltered, but she did not
stop here. Entering one of the many ﬁs-
sures in the rocks, she led us into a narrow
passage whose ﬂoor descended so rapidly
150
and whose solid roof shut out the light so
quickly that in ordinary circumstances we
would have hesitated about proceeding. But,
although it was soon absolutely dark, we
kept on, guided by that marvelous voice,
now our sole inspiration.
”Come, come, fear no harm,” it seemed
to say, and we were content to follow blindly,
even the doctor no longer objecting.
151
[Illustration: ”POURING FORTH HER
VOICE IN THAT EXQUISITE SONG.”]
How many hours we proceeded in this
way, going down, down, all the time, toward
the center of the globe, I have no means of
telling; but I distinctly remember that we
began, after a time, to ﬁnd, to our great
joy, that the air was becoming denser and
we could breathe quite freely. This gave us
152
needed strength and justiﬁed the faith with
which our mysterious deliverer had ﬁlled us.
At length we were gladdened by a glim-
mer of light ahead of us, which increased
until our path was all illumined with a beau-
tiful soft haze. Soon the way broadened and
grew still brighter, and then we were led
forth into an open street, which seemed to
be part of a small village. There were but
153
few houses, and even these, although they
showed signs of a former grandeur, were
sadly in need of care. Not a creature of any
kind was stirring, and in our hasty review
the whole place looked as if it might have
been deserted by its inhabitants for a hun-
dred years. There was one spot, however,
so retired as to be entirely hidden from our
view at ﬁrst, which had anything but a de-
154
serted appearance. The house was small,
but it was a perfect bower of beauty, half-
concealed with a mass of ﬂowers and vines.
Here our journey ended, for our guide led
us to the door and, entering, turned and
invited us to follow her.
The doctor and I were tired enough to
accept with eagerness her hospitality, and
soon we were all seated in a pleasant room,
155
which was ﬁlled with the evidences of a re-
ﬁned taste. Now we had a much better op-
portunity to observe the resplendent beauty
of our new friend, and we found, also, that
her manners were as captivating as her other
personal qualities. At intervals, all through
our long walk, her song had ceased and we
expected she would make some attempt to
speak to us; but being disappointed in this,
156
it struck me after we had entered the house
that I ought to end the embarrassment by
addressing her. The circumstances of our
meeting were peculiar, to say the least, and,
of all the thousand things I might have ap-
propriately said, nothing could have been
more meaningless or have better shown the
vacant condition of my mind than the words
I chose.
157
”It’s a ﬁne day,” I said, looking square
in her eyes and trying to speak pleasantly.
In answer she gave me a smile which
almost deprived me of what little wit re-
mained, and at the same time emitted one
exquisite note.
I was now at the end of my resources.
I had always thought I could talk on ordi-
nary topics as well as the average man, but
158
in the presence of this girl, with everything
in the world unsaid, I could not think of
one word to say. The doctor soon saw my
predicament and hastened to assist me, and
the remark which he selected shows again
his wonderful self-possession in the midst
of overwhelming diﬃculties. He waved his
hand gently toward me to attract her at-
tention and said:
159
”My friend and I are from the United
States and have come to make you a visit.
This is your home, I suppose, away down
here in the middle of the moon? It is very
kind of you to bring us here. I hope you
will excuse me for my rudeness, but what
time do you have supper?”
This time three little notes of the same
quality as before and then a little trill, and
160
the whole accompanied by a smile so sweet
that I suddenly began to wish the doctor
had been blown oﬀ the top of the moon.
It was a wicked thought and I put it away
from me as quickly as possible, being as-
sisted by the recollection that the doctor
had a charming wife already, who was no
doubt thinking of him at this very moment.
We were not making much progress in
161
opening conversation, but our charming host-
ess seemed to understand either the doc-
tor’s words or his looks, for, stepping into
another room, she called us presently to sit
down to a table well supplied with plain
but substantial food. She soon made us feel
quite at home, just by her easy and agree-
able ways. We did not once hear her voice
in ordinary speech, and at length we began
162
to suspect, what we afterward learned to be
true, that she talked as the birds talk, only
in song. Whether she used her language
or ours she would always sing or chant her
words, and every expression was perfect in
rhythm and melody.
The doctor and I hesitated to say much
to each other, out of deference to the feel-
ings of this fair lunarian, but he took oc-
163
casion to remark to me quietly that as she
could not tell us her name just yet he pro-
posed to call her Mona [Footnote: Mona
is old Saxon for moon .] for the present. I
assented easily, as it made little diﬀerence
to me what we called her, if she would only
remain with us.
It happened that the doctor, who knew
everything, was well acquainted with dacty-
164
lology and the latest sign language, used
in the instruction of deaf mutes, and as it
seemed likely that our stay in our present
abode might be a prolonged one, he told
me he would try to teach Mona to converse
with us. I could not object, although I se-
cretly wished I could have taken the place
of instructor. But it soon occurred to me
that I must be a fellow pupil, if we were all
165
to talk in that way; and so, with this bond
of sympathy established between us, Mona
and I began our lessons.
During the closing years of the century
great progress had been made, on the earth,
in the method of talking by arbitrary signs
and motions. The movements of the body
and limbs and the great variety of facial ex-
pressions were all so well adapted to the
166
ideas to be represented that it was com-
paratively easy for an intelligent person to
learn to make known many of his thoughts.
As our studies progressed day after day it
began to dawn on me that Mona, in spite of
the disadvantage of not knowing our spoken
language, was learning faster than I was. I
was somewhat chagrined at this at ﬁrst, but
it ﬁnally turned out to my advantage, for
167
the doctor announced one day that Mona
had acquired all he knew and could thence-
forth teach me if I pleased. Here was a
bond of sympathy that I had not looked
for, but I was glad enough to avail myself
of it, and delighted to ﬁnd that Mona was
also pleased with the plan. With her for
a teacher it did not take me long to ﬁn-
ish. Her graceful movements made poetry
168
of the language, and the web she was weav-
ing around my heart was strengthened ev-
ery hour.
As Mona gradually learned to express
herself to our comprehension we began to
ask her questions about herself and her his-
tory. The doctor, being less under the spell
of her charms than I was, showed a greater
curiosity, and one of the ﬁrst things he asked
169
was:
”When do you expect the other mem-
bers of your family home?”
Mona was at ﬁrst puzzled, but saw his
meaning as soon as the motions were re-
peated, and answered with a few simple
signs:
”I have no friends to come home. I am
alone.”
170
The expression we put into our faces
told her of our sorrow and sympathy better
than any words, and the doctor continued:
”But these other houses! Surely they
are not all empty?”
”Yes,” she replied, ”their inmates are all
gone. I am the only inhabitant left.”
And then she told us from time to time
that there were no other villages anywhere
171
in the moon and that she was absolutely
the last of her race. Our method of con-
versation was not free enough to allow her
to tell us how she had discovered the truth
of this astounding information, and there
were a thousand other questions for whose
answers we were obliged to wait, but not
forever.
The doctor and I talked freely to each
172
other now, and playfully said a great many
things to Mona, who, though she did not
understand them, laughed with us and gave
us much pleasure with her easy, unembar-
rassed manner and piquant ways. And she
not only jabbered away with hands and face
in the manner we had taught her, but she
did not cease also to make life bright for us
by repaying us in our own coin and talking
173
to us in her natural, delicious way. With
such music in the house life could not be
dull.
My infatuation increased as the days went
by, and I began to seek every possible occa-
sion to be alone with Mona. I often encour-
aged the doctor to go out and learn what he
could of our surroundings, excusing myself
from bearing him company on the ground
174
that I did not think it safe to leave Mona
alone. Or if Mona wanted to go out I would
suggest to the doctor that I needed the ex-
ercise also, and that he really ought to be
writing down our experiences while he had
leisure, as there was no telling how soon the
moon would land us somewhere.
I did not then know whether the doctor
saw through my designs or not. I thought
175
not, for I did not suppose he was ever so
deeply in love as I was. But if he did he was
good enough to take my little hints and say
nothing.
On these occasions, whether Mona and
I remained in the house or walked abroad, I
wasted no time in asking her more questions
about the moon or such trivial matters, but
spent all my eﬀorts in trying to establish
176
closer personal relations between us. While
she was exceedingly pleasant and agreeable,
she did not seem to understand my feeling
exactly, although I tried in every way to
show her my heart. She was not coquet-
tish, but perfectly unaﬀected, and simply
did not realize my meaning. For once the
sign language did not prove adequate; and
so, as my feelings would not be controlled,
177
I was fain to resort to my natural tongue,
and poured forth my love to my own satis-
faction if not to her comprehension. I did
not stint the words, astonishing myself at
the fullness of my vocabulary, and hoping
that the fervor of my manner and the pas-
sion exhibited in my voice would make the
right impression on my companion.
Day after day, as opportunity oﬀered,
178
I returned to the same theme. Mona was
sympathetic in her own charming way, but
apparently not aﬀected in the manner I was
looking for. And still, ”I love you, I love
you,” was repeated in her ears a thousand
times. The fact that she did not understand
the words made me all the more voluble,
and I lavished my aﬀectionate terms upon
her without restraint.
179
One day, after this had been going on for
some time, the doctor came in from a walk
and found us together as usual. He had a
rare blossom in his hand, and stepping to
Mona’s side he oﬀered it to her with some
gallantry. She accepted it with a beaming
countenance which set my heart to thump-
ing, and then she burst forth in a strain so
sweet that it thrilled my whole being and
180
roused in me again that jealous fear that
Mona was learning to care more for the doc-
tor than for me. But how shall I describe
my emotions when she suddenly blended
syllables of our language with the accents of
her song, and, still looking into the doctor’s
eyes, closed her entrancing melody with the
burning words, ”I love you”?
I wonder how other men have borne such
181
a shock as that. It seemed to me that by
simply living during the next few minutes
I was proving myself stronger than others.
And I was able to think, too. It occurred
to me that perhaps Mona was merely a par-
rot, repeating, with no perception of their
meaning, words which she had so often heard
from me. But this idea passed swiftly away
when I remembered the warmth of her ex-
182
pression and the ardor of her manner, both
of which, alas, she had also learned from
me.
As I recovered somewhat from the ef-
fects of the blow I found Mona’s eyes were
ﬁxed on me, and she looked so innocent, so
entirely unconscious of wrong, that if I had
any anger in my heart it melted away and
left me more her slave than ever. There was
183
something in her behavior which I could not
comprehend, and it was evident that she
had not yet acquired any particular fond-
ness for me, but these were not suﬃcient
reasons to make me cease to care for her.
My love was too strong to give her up, even
after I had just heard her declare, in such a
passionate way, her love for another. These
thoughts passed through my mind as she
184
beamed upon me in her radiant beauty, smil-
ing as sweetly as ever, as if to encourage me
still to live and hope.
But how did the doctor receive this re-
markable love-song? Like the philosopher
he was. Being astonished beyond measure
at what he had heard, he sat and pondered
the subject for some minutes. What chieﬂy
interested him was not the personal element
185
in Mona’s words, which was so vital a point
to me, but the fact that she could make use
of any words of our language. The possi-
bilities which this fact opened up to him
were of the greatest moment. If Mona could
learn to talk freely she would be able to
give us much information that would be of
great scientiﬁc value. After he had pursued
these thoughts a while it suddenly struck
186
him that the expression she had used was a
singular one to begin with, and he turned
to me and laughingly said:
”You must have taught her those words.
I did not.”
”I shall have to acknowledge it,” I replied,
”but I assure you I did not inﬂuence her to
make such use of them.”
”No, I suppose not; but that question is
187
of small account beside the knowledge that
Mona has begun to learn our speech. Now
let us give all our attention to her instruc-
tion.”
We did so from that hour, the doctor
from high motives of philosophy and philan-
thropy, while I was actuated by more self-
ish reasons. Although I had learned that I
had been too hasty in my attempt to gain
188
Mona’s aﬀections I did not despair of suc-
cess. I should have to take time and ap-
proach the citadel of her untutored heart
with more caution. In the pleasant task of
teaching her the intricacies of the English
language I anticipated many delightful op-
portunities of leading her into the Elysian
ﬁelds of romance. If she could learn to un-
derstand fully my intense feeling for her I
189
had no doubt she would return my passion.
With such a hopeful spirit does the love god
inspire his happy victims.
In order to assist in the realization of
these rosy fore-thoughts, I suggested to the
doctor that each of us should take his turn
in Mona’s instruction, so as to make it as
easy and informal for her as possible. He
had no objections to make, and we began a
190
task which proved to be much simpler than
we had imagined. Mona had heard us talk
so much that she had half-learned a great
many words and expressions, and her re-
markable quickness of intellect helped her
to pick up their meaning rapidly as soon as
we gave her systematic aid. Hence it was
not long before she began to converse with
considerable freedom.
191
From the ﬁrst the doctor and I had been
curious to know if she would give up the mu-
sical tone and simply talk as we did, and
we were pleasantly surprised to ﬁnd that
her song was not interrupted by the form
of words she used. Whatever the phrase
she wanted to employ she turned it into
verse on the instant and chanted it forth in
perfect melody. So spontaneous was every
192
expression that her very thoughts seemed
to be framed in harmony. Her voice was
not obtrusive nor monotonous and gener-
ally not loud, but was always well adapted
to the sense of what she was singing. The
tones mostly used in conversation were low
and sweet, like rippling water, but these
were constantly varied by the introduction
of notes of greater power and range.
193
To have such use made of our rugged
speech was a revelation to us, and words,
as we employ them, are inadequate to ex-
press our enjoyment of Mona’s song, when
to its former beauty was added the clear
enunciation of language that we could un-
derstand.
It was through this rare medium that
the doctor and I learned, from day to day,
194
something of the history of Mona’s race.
The surface of the moon had once been peo-
pled, as we supposed, but as the day of de-
cay and death approached the outside of
the globe became too inhospitable to longer
support life. The interior had cooled and
contracted, and as the solid crust was rigid
enough to keep its place, great, sublunar
caverns had been formed. Into these rushed
195
the water and the atmosphere, accompa-
nied by the few remaining inhabitants. The
conditions were not favorable, in such places,
to the continuation of the race, although
their advanced knowledge in every direction
prevented them from melting away suddenly.
Settlements had been formed in many
diﬀerent sections of the moon, and interior
communication was established between them.
196
As the people gradually passed away, those
who remained naturally drew nearer together
until at last the remnant of the population
of the globe were all gathered in the lit-
tle village where we were now living. Here
the process still went on, and year after
year saw a constantly diminishing number.
A few years before our arrival Mona’s last
companion, a girl of her own age, had died,
197
and ever since then this tuneful creature,
possessed of the most sunny disposition we
had ever known, had lived alone, with the
knowledge that there was not another living
being in all the moon.
”So you see,” she sang, ”I was as glad
to ﬁnd you as you were to hear me.”
”But,” asked the doctor, ”how did you
know we were out there, nearly ready to be
198
blown oﬀ into space?”
”I didn’t know it till I saw you. I went
out to try to discover what was the mat-
ter with my old world. For some time I
had had the queerest sensations imaginable.
I was accustomed to being out of doors a
great deal, and I ﬁrst began to notice that I
could walk and run more easily than before.
I was becoming rather sprightly for one who
199
was so soon to pass oﬀ this deserted stage.
Then everything I took up seemed to be
growing marvelously light, and I began to
have a feeling that I must hold on to all my
movable possessions, to keep them from get-
ting away. After this unaccountable state of
things had existed for a while, there came,
one day, a terrible shock, which threatened
to crack the moon’s skull and rattle its frag-
200
ments down upon my head. This was fol-
lowed at intervals by similar or lighter shocks,
and it was all so exceedingly unusual that
I became very curious to know what was
happening. Then all was quiet for many
days, but when at length the quakings be-
gan again my natural instinct of self-preservation
told me I ought not to take the risk of an-
other such siege, and so I started to make
201
my way to the surface by a well-known path.
The trouble did not continue as I feared,
but I kept on, fortunately for you as well
as for myself, and found the outside world
too uncomfortable a place for any of us to
remain in longer than necessary.”
This halting prose represents the mean-
ing of what Mona said, but it gives a feeble
idea of the beauty of her poetic expressions,
202
chanted in melodious phrase and in ever-
changing, ever-joyous tune.
We replied by explaining to her what
had happened to her disjointed world, ex-
pressing our gratitude also for her kindness
in bringing us to her sheltered home.
203
CHAPTER V.
OUR INTRODUCTION TO MARS.
Ever since the doctor had been inside
of the moon he had not ceased to regret
that we had left all our goods in the car
of our balloon. He mourned the loss of
the instruments and other apparatus which
had cost him so much care, and then there
204
were our oﬃcial papers. Our introduction
to Mona had been rather too informal, and
we thought we might stand better with her
if we could show her our credentials, though,
to be sure, she could not read them.
Several times the doctor proposed to me
that we should go out and bring in what we
could carry if, perchance, we should ﬁnd the
wind had left us anything. But I had my
205
own reasons for preferring to remain where
we were. I was happy and was expecting
every day to be happier still, and so I put
the doctor oﬀ by reminding him that the
weather was very bad outside and that we
had been glad enough to get in with our
lives.
I think he would have agreed with me
and would have been contented to stay if
206
the question had been left entirely to our-
selves. But Mona heard us talking it over
one day and said we could go without much
risk if we cared to try it, and she would go
with us to take care of us.
Although it would be diﬃcult to tell how
Mona could help us when we were outside,
this idea sounded so assuring that the doc-
tor determined to make the attempt. I was
207
obliged to acquiesce, fearing, in my igno-
rance of all that was to happen to us, that
the trip would keep me too much from Mona’s
side.
After due preparation we started, and
reached the upper end of the long passage
without incident. But as we emerged we
noticed that the light had a peculiar tinge
of red, quite diﬀerent from its usual tone.
208
Meditating on this phenomenon, and speak-
ing to each other as we could ﬁnd breath, we
ascended the side of the crater, when there
burst upon our view a magniﬁcent world,
apparently but a little way oﬀ. Its ruddy
face showed us plainly what had caused the
red light, and the doctor made haste to ex-
claim:
”Aha! let me introduce you to the planet
209
Mars.”
”Yes,” I replied, ”and we may become
too well acquainted before a great while if
our rapid ﬂight is not checked.”
We soon found our car just as we had
left it, and were glad to take advantage of
its shelter. In the new danger which loomed
up before us so threateningly, we all agreed
that it would be rash to return into the in-
210
terior of the moon, to be crushed to death
in the shock of the impending collision; and
yet, in remaining where we were, the doc-
tor and I felt that no reputable insurance
company would call our lives a very good
risk.
But now was our opportunity to witness
some of the depths of Mona’s character.
What was there in her nature so entirely
211
diﬀerent from anything we had ever known?
We had seen persons of cheerful disposition
before, and had heard of many exhibitions
of courage and indiﬀerence to danger, but
here we had the very personiﬁcation of fear-
lessness and contentment. She talked freely
of our situation and of what was likely to
happen, but appeared to be as light-hearted
as ever, and her song was just as cheerful
212
as it had been in her quiet home. When we
asked her if she were not afraid, she replied
that there was no such word in her language
and she could not appreciate its meaning.
”Fear,” said the doctor, ”is a feeling ex-
cited by the apprehension of danger.”
”I think I know about the danger we
are in,” she answered, ”but I have not the
feeling you are trying to describe. When I
213
was alone in my underground village and
thought the roof was about to fall down
and bury me there, I had no fear, as you
say. I know that whatever has come to
me or to any of my race has always been
for our good, and I am sure it will be so
in the future. I have but a short time to
remain as the sole inhabitant of this now
useless globe, and the manner of my tak-
214
ing oﬀ is not of the slightest moment. This
old world’s day is now passed, and I realize
in that fact the reason for its unseemly be-
havior, ﬁrst knocking its toughened crust so
rudely against the earth and then coquet-
ting in this manner with Mars. It certainly
no longer shows any respect for the race it
has nourished, and hence I see that my day,
too, will soon be over. Whatever may be
215
your fate you will doubtless see no more of
me after this excursion is ended.”
In the light of history this seemed ex-
tremely probable, and yet Mona was not
half as concerned about it as I was. I thought
she ought to have shown more anxiety about
her future for my sake if not for her own,
and I ventured to say, although in a rather
doleful tone:
216
”I hope, Mona, if the doctor and I are
freed from this peril that you will escape
with us. If I thought there was no hope of
that, I am sure I should propose that we
return at once to the middle of the moon
and be buried together.”
She laughed aloud as she sang out in
joyous notes:
”Your mournful voice, my ardent friend,
217
makes me think you would not be very happy
with the last alternative. But cheer up, we
will all stand by each other to the last.”
It was in her abounding good nature and
in her faculty for inspiring us with her own
hopeful disposition that we found Mona ful-
ﬁlling her promise to take care of us.
But now our attention could not be di-
verted from the planet which was rapidly
218
growing before our eyes. As we approached
nearer and nearer every minute, ﬂying at
such a terriﬁc rate and aimed, apparently,
for a direct collision, it may be imagined
that the doctor and I, in spite of Mona’s
presence, began to be exceedingly anxious
lest our journey and our lives should meet
an abrupt and common end.
Unless such excursions as ours become
219
more frequent in the future, it will proba-
bly always remain a mystery how this one
came to a close. I can only relate our ex-
perience during the time that we retained
our consciousness, and leave the imagina-
tion to picture the rest. As we entered the
atmosphere of the planet, the rush of air
increased till it seemed as if a hundred Nia-
garas were sounding in our ears. I remem-
220
ber having a dim feeling of satisfaction in
the belief that such a violent contact with
the atmosphere must impede the moon’s
progress, and oﬀer us some chance of land-
ing in safety. Then I was bereft of all sense,
and when I regained consciousness I was ly-
ing in the bottom of our car in perfect quiet
and apparently unharmed.
I called aloud for the doctor, but no
221
voice replied. Rising, I looked about me and
found I was aﬂoat on a ruddy sea, alone, as
far as my senses could inform me, alone in
a new world. Such a sensation of homesick-
ness came over me, such a longing for hu-
man fellowship, that our former lonesome
condition on the moon seemed like a par-
adise compared to my present wretchedness.
So this was Mars, which we had studied
222
with our telescopes and about whose con-
dition and history we had so often specu-
lated. And now, as I leaned my elbows on
the edge of the car and gazed oﬀ over the
deep, I wondered, with more interest than
I had ever before possessed, if the world
I had discovered were inhabited. Perhaps
because it was such a vital question with
me, my naturally hopeful disposition began
223
to ﬁnd reasons for a cheerful view. There
were certainly favorable evidences all about
me. I was breathing an atmosphere evi-
dently made for lungs like mine. The air
was soft and pleasant, and though I was
drenched with water by my fall I was not
uncomfortable. I tasted the water and, oh!
joyful reminder of home, it was salt. The
sun shed a beautiful light around me, and
224
as I glanced upward to see how bright and
cheerful the sky was, my reverie was sud-
denly broken oﬀ, for directly over my head,
poised as quietly as if it had always been
there, was our old moon. It seemed but
a few miles away and I gazed at it with
mixed feelings, with thankfulness that I had
escaped from its inhospitable surface with
my life, and with scorn for its present be-
225
havior. For there it was, apparently per-
fectly at home and ready to bear the torch
for Mars as faithfully as it always had for
the earth, its rightful mistress.
”Inconstancy,” I cried, ”thy name is Luna.”
[Illustration: THORWALD DISCOVERS
ONE OF THE EARTH-DWELLERS.]
When the novelty of this sensational dis-
covery was gone, my mind returned to the
226
contemplation of myself, and my situation
seemed to me so unique as to remove some
of the natural feeling of fear. When one is
shipwrecked in the ordinary way his anxi-
ety is caused by the uncertainty that any-
one will come to his rescue; while in my
case I did not even know there was any-
one to come. But when I looked up at the
moon and remembered its erratic climate
227
and our wild, unearthly journey, I could not
suppress a feeling of satisfaction with my
changed condition. If the doctor had only
been with me we would have been able to
extract considerable comfort from our sur-
roundings. But, as it was, I was very lone-
some, and whatever consolation I got from
my reasoning about the planet’s habitabil-
ity was increased a thousand fold by seeing
228
a speck upon the horizon, which I hoped
might prove to be a sail. I watched it with
intense interest, and was not disappointed.
I will not try to describe my feelings as this
ship of Mars approached me, while I sat
wondering what manner of men I should
see. The ﬁrst thing that struck me was
the enormous size of the craft, and as it
drew near I could see that it was manned
229
by beings proportionately large. I now be-
gan to fear I should be run down, but soon
I noticed one of the passengers or crew who
seemed to be looking at me through a glass.
In a little while the vessel slowed up, and
a boat was put oﬀ in which a number of
giants, including the man with the glass,
rowed toward me. When they had nearly
reached me I heard the latter say to the
230
others:
”Yes, this is surely the little fellow we
are searching for.”
I could not imagine what he meant by
this, although it occurred to me that it was
a pleasant thing to have him speak good,
plain English; but the other circumstances
were so entirely novel that, instead of open-
ing the conversation with some conventional
231
remark, like a sensible person, I burst out
with:
”But Proctor says Mars has passed its
life-bearing period.”
I hardly knew what I said, but it proved
that they were just the words to commend
me to my new friend, for as he reached over
and lifted me into the boat he said:
”Why, how did you know Proctor? You
232
must have misunderstood him, for he would
never say such a thing as that.”
While I was puzzling over this strange
speech he continued:
”I think we have some one in the ship
whom you will be glad to see.”
I began to fear I should not get on very
well in Mars if all the inhabitants talked
in such riddles, but I said, as politely as I
233
could:
”I am sure I need not wait to get to the
ship to be pleased. I am delighted to see
you and your companions here.”
While we were returning to the vessel
I gave Thorwald, for such I found to be
his name, a brief account of our journey on
the moon and of my mysterious arrival on
their planet. I expatiated on the merits of
234
the doctor, and told Thorwald that he was
probably still on the moon or else at the
bottom of their ocean.
I was thinking that Thorwald did not
show much sympathy with me, when, our
boat having nearly reached the ship’s side, I
looked up and saw the doctor himself stand-
ing on the deck, a pigmy among giants. I
was soon by his side, and we embraced be-
235
fore our new-found friends without a blush.
”Where’s Mona?” were the ﬁrst words
he said.
”Mona!” I replied. ”Who’s Mona?”
”Who’s Mona?” he returned. ”Well, you
have recovered pretty rapidly.”
I now discovered that, although I had
found the body of my friend, the best part
of him was missing. In the fall from the
236
moon he had evidently lost his wits. I thought
I would not let him know too suddenly what
was the matter, and so I merely said:
”Yes, I went into the water, but was not
much hurt. When I came to my senses I
found myself in our car still. Tell me how
you escaped.”
”Oh, I happened to fall near this ship,
fortunately, and they picked me up, and
237
then, at my request, they set out to search
for you and Mona.”
”Well,” said I, ”you found me, and I am
very thankful for it, but Mona I fear you
will never see.”
”What was the last you saw of her?” he
asked.
I had great diﬃculty in keeping myself
from laughing in the doctor’s face at his odd
238
fancy, but the thought came to me with
some force that I must not let his men-
tal condition become known to the men of
Mars around us; and so, instead of replying
to his question, I turned to Thorwald and
asked him if he could tell us how the moon
had landed us so easily on their planet.
In answer he gave it as his opinion that
as the moon came rushing toward them so
239
swiftly it compressed the air in its path to
such a degree that it acted as a cushion,
preventing a collision and sending the moon
bounding back over the path by which it
had come. Probably at the moment when
it was nearest the surface, we had fallen oﬀ
into the ocean. The rebound, he supposed,
was not suﬃcient to carry it beyond the at-
traction of the planet, and so it poised it-
240
self and began to make a revolution around
Mars in its old-fashioned way.
Thorwald told us we had taken the best
possible time to visit them, for Mars had
not been so near the earth before in a great
while.
Our new acquaintances were from nine
to ten feet tall and proportionately large ev-
ery other way, so that they appeared quite
241
monstrous to us. But they were agile and
even graceful in their movements, while in
manner they were so gentle and pleasing
that we recognized at once their high cul-
ture.
The vessel was soon under way and made
rapid progress, and though our voyage was
not very long, it proved to be an exceedingly
proﬁtable one to the doctor and me, for
242
we learned more, through conversation with
our new friends, about the history and con-
dition of Mars than we could have gained
in any other way. The men were all kind
to us and seemed to be all equally able to
impart information, but most of our inter-
course was with Thorwald. He gave us much
of his time, at intervals as he could be spared
from work, for every man helped at the ser-
243
vice of the ship. There seemed to be no
system of leadership, but all appeared to
know what was to be done, and did it with-
out orders and without clashing.
As we entered into conversation about
the earth and Mars, I was surprised to ﬁnd
the doctor taking his full share in it with
his usual intelligence. His questions and
answers were all so pertinent that I should
244
have supposed his mind was entirely unaf-
fected, had I not known to the contrary.
When I saw he could hold his own so well,
I determined to take the ﬁrst opportunity
when we were alone to ask him again who
Mona was.
245
CHAPTER VI
A REMARKABLE PEOPLE.
The conversation with our new friends
was not all on one side, for we had many
questions to answer about the earth, the
Martian mind showing as great a thirst for
knowledge as ours. One of the ﬁrst things
Thorwald said after we had settled down to
246
a good talk was:
”But, Doctor, your little head is so full
of thought that it seems to me you ought
not to have been surprised to ﬁnd us so
large here. You knew before you came that
Mars is much smaller than the earth and,
therefore, the attraction of gravitation be-
ing less, that everything can grow more eas-
ily. Things may as well be one size as an-
247
other if only they are well adapted to each
other, and we would never have known we
were large or that you were small had we
not been brought together. In the sight of
Him who made both the earth and Mars,
and fashioned one for you and the other for
us, we are neither great nor small. In fact,
size is never absolute but only relative.”
”That is very clear to us now,” said the
248
doctor, ”and I promise not to be surprised
again, even when I walk the streets of your
cities and see you in your houses.”
”Then, Doctor,” said I, ”if we had found
inhabitants on the moon what great folks
they must have seemed to us.”
This was an exceedingly foolish remark
for me to make, for it resulted in the doc-
tor’s almost betraying his condition to our
249
friends.
Of course Thorwald was interested in
what I said, and eagerly inquired:
”So you found no inhabitants in the moon?”
”Just one,” spoke up the doctor quickly.
”What! you found one and left him there?”
”It was a woman,” said the doctor.
This talk had been so rapid that I had
not had a chance to interfere, but I saw that
250
I must stop it now for the doctor’s sake.
When I could see him alone I could tell him
his memory was playing him a trick and he
must avoid that subject. So, before Thor-
wald could speak again, I said:
”Let me suggest, Thorwald, that we let
the moon rest till we have heard more of
Mars, which I am sure is of greater impor-
tance. We have told you many things in
251
regard to our planet, and are willing to an-
swer all the questions you may please to ask
from time to time, but now we would like
to listen a while.”
”Yes,” said the doctor, ”we started on
this expedition to add to our scientiﬁc knowl-
edge, and we seem in a fair way to accom-
plish our purpose; so that, if you will ﬁnd
a way to send us back to the earth some
252
time, I think our friends will admit that we
have been successful. But ﬁrst we want to
learn all we can about this wonderful world.
How long has your race existed? Our as-
tronomers tell us Mars is too old to be in-
habited, and, considering some of my own
recent experiences in ﬁnding my science un-
reliable, it rather consoles me to discover
that they are mistaken.”
253
”They are right,” Thorwald answered,
”in believing that Mars is very old, and so
our race is nearing its maturity. It is im-
possible to judge accurately of the age of
the planet itself, but we know it is exceed-
ingly old from the evidences of changes that
have taken place on its surface. Neither
can we tell when our race was born, though
we have legends and traditions dating back
254
ﬁfty thousand years, and authentic history
for nearly half that time.”
The doctor and myself now began to re-
alize that we had indeed something to learn
from these people, and I remarked:
”These ﬁgures astonish us, Thorwald,
and you can hardly understand how inter-
ested we are. But please continue. From
what little I have seen I should think you
255
are much farther advanced in everyway than
the inhabitants of the earth.”
”We believe,” replied the Martian, ”that
our planet is much older than the earth,
and if we are right in that it is but natural
that our civilization should be older also. If
the tendency of mind is toward perfection,
if in your experience you have found that,
in the main, men look upward more than
256
downward, what would you expect to ﬁnd
in a world so beautiful as this and where
life has existed so long? From what we
know of our own history and from what we
have learned of the worlds around us, we
believe the life-bearing period of Mars has
long since passed its middle point, and that
both our planet and our race have passed
through convulsions and changes to which
257
other worlds, perhaps the earth, are now
subjected.”
This appeared so reasonable that I said
to him:
”We must believe that Mars is an af-
ternoon planet. And now we want to hear
whatever you may choose to tell us about
your civilization.”
”That is a broad subject,” replied Thor-
258
wald, ”but it is something I like to talk
about. If I judge rightly of what you have
already told me of the earth and its people,
I think we were in just about your situa-
tion ages ago and that we have merely ma-
tured. That is, the causes now at work on
the earth are having in us their legitimate
eﬀect. These processes are slow but sure.
To the Inﬁnite time is of no more impor-
259
tance in itself than is size.
”I know of no better topic to begin with,”
continued Thorwald, ”than the matter of
government. You wondered at the pecu-
liar discipline on board this ship. It is but
a type of what you will ﬁnd on land. We
have no government in its strict sense, for
there is no one that needs governing. We
have organization for mutual help in many
260
ways, but no rulers nor legislators. The
only government is that of the family. Here
character is formed so that when the chil-
dren go forth into the world no one desires
to wrong his neighbor. We know from our
histories of all the struggles our ancestors
passed through before the days of univer-
sal peace and brotherhood. Now we go and
come as we please, with no fear of harm.
261
We are all one nation because all national
boundaries have been obliterated, and we
have a common language. There are no
laws of compulsion or restraint, for all do
by instinct what is best for themselves and
their neighbors.”
”Oh, happy Mars!” here broke in the
usually prosaic doctor. ”That sounds like
a story. And yet what is it,” he contin-
262
ued, addressing me, ”but the eﬀect of per-
fect obedience to our golden rule? If men
should really learn to do to others as they
would have others do to them, what a trans-
formation it would accomplish.”
”So that is what you call the golden rule,
is it?” asked Thorwald. ”And are you all
trying to live by it?”
”Well,” I replied, ”that is what many of
263
us profess to be doing, but I must say we
fall far, very far short of the mark. I do
not know a single inhabitant of the earth,
with the possible exception of my compan-
ion here, who fully obeys that command.”
The doctor’s smile was not lost on Thor-
wald, who replied:
”It was rather too bad of you to bring
so far away from the earth the only good
264
man the planet contained; but I am glad to
know the golden rule, as you may well call
it, has been given to men. We have had the
same here, and, oh! if I could make you re-
alize something of the struggle our race has
had in working it into life and practice, you
would gain some hope for the people of the
earth. I mean, the result of this struggle
would give you hope, for I am not ashamed
265
to say that we are now living up to the full
requirements of this law, and if you should
spend the remainder of your lives with us I
am sure you would not ﬁnd my statement
untrue. It is only by actually loving our
neighbors as ourselves that we are able to
live as we do. The law of love has replaced
the law of force. It is well for you to un-
derstand this at the beginning, for it is the
266
secret of our wonderful success in all the
higher forms of civilization.”
”It must have helped you greatly,” said
I, ”in the matter of which you have just
been speaking, that of government.”
”Yes, it has,” he replied. ”In our histo-
ries we have full accounts of the long course
of events when we were divided into hun-
dreds of nations, each with its own pride
267
and ambition, and each striving to build
up itself upon the misfortunes or the ruins
of its neighbors. You can perhaps imagine
what a mass of material we have for reading
and study.”
”We can,” spoke up the student doc-
tor, ”and it fairly makes my mouth water.
But tell us brieﬂy, Thorwald, how you ever
passed from those troublous times to the
268
blissful state in which we now ﬁnd you.”
”The transition was exceedingly slow;
it seemed, in fact, impossible that such a
change could ever be eﬀected. But it began
with the establishment of universal peace,
which was demanded by the growing spirit
of brotherly love, and assisted by commer-
cial reciprocity and a world language. Grad-
ually national boundaries were found to be
269
only an annoyance, and in time–a long time,
of course–we became one nation and ﬁnally
no nation. For now no one exercises any
authority over his neighbors, since the need
for all artiﬁcial distinctions has long since
passed away.”
”Then,” said I, ”you have no doubt lost
all fear and anxiety over the conﬂicting in-
terests of capital and labor.”
270
”Yes,” replied Thorwald, ”for we have
no such distinctions in society as rich and
poor, workingmen and capitalists. We all
work as we please, but there is so little to
do that no one is burdened, and one cannot
be richer than another because all the mate-
rial bounties of nature and art are common
to all, being as free as the air. I suppose, as
this seems to be strange talk to you, that
271
you cannot realize what it is to belong to a
society where everyone considers the inter-
ests of his neighbor as much as his own. You
will ﬁnd when you reach that point that
most of your troubles will be gone, as ours
are.”
”Our troubles!” said the doctor. ”Many
of our troubles, to be sure, arise from our
passions and appetites–in other words, from
272
our selﬁshness–and these will no doubt dis-
appear when we reach that blessed state of
which you have spoken, a condition prayed
for and dimly expected by many of our race.
But other troubles of ours come from sick-
ness and severe toil, from accidents, famines,
and the convulsions of nature. How, for
example, can you have escaped the latter,
unless, indeed, God has helped those who
273
have so wisely helped themselves?”
”Your last thought is right,” answered
our friend. ”Nature has certainly assisted
us. While the crust of the planet was thin
we know the central ﬁres heaved and shook
the ground and burst forth from the moun-
tains, causing great destruction and keep-
ing the world in fear. We do not know how
thick the crust of the planet now is, but
274
nothing has been felt of those inner convul-
sions for many ages. One of our feats of en-
gineering has been to see how far we could
penetrate into the surface of the globe. A
well of vast size has been dug, the tem-
perature being carefully noted and observa-
tions made of the many diﬀerent substances
passed through–water, coal, gas, oil, and all
kinds of mineral deposits. The work has
275
progressed from one generation to another,
and no one can tell when it will be called
ﬁnished, as it is determined to dig toward
the center of the planet as fast as our ever-
increasing skill will permit.”
”Did you ﬁnd out how thick the crust
is?” I asked.
”No,” he answered, ”we are not much
nearer the solution of that question than be-
276
fore, but we have made valuable discoveries
as to what the crust is composed of. The
temperature has gradually, though slowly,
increased, and we believe the time will come
when the work will have to be abandoned
on account of the heat. We have gone far
enough to know that when the fuel on the
surface of our globe is all used up we shall
only have to tap the center to get all the
277
heat we want.” ”What a capital idea that
will be,” I interrupted, ”to throw at some
of our pessimistic friends on the earth, Doc-
tor.”
”We see now, Thorwald,” my compan-
ion said, ”that your planet is too old to give
you any more trouble from earthquake and
volcano, but how about other natural phe-
nomena, the tempest and cyclone for exam-
278
ple?”
”Well,” replied Thorwald, ”we have a
theory that time, the great healer, has cured
these evils also. Let me ask, Doctor, if the
earth ever receives any accretions of matter
from outside its own atmosphere?”
”Yes, we have the fall of meteorites, for-
eign substances which we believe the earth
encounters in its path around the sun.”
279
”I supposed such must be the case,” Thor-
wald continued. ”And now, when you con-
sider the great age of Mars, perhaps you
will not be surprised to learn that this new
matter, coming to us from the outside, was
suﬃcient to increase the weight of our globe
and gradually decrease the rate of speed at
which we were traveling through space.”
”I am surprised, though,” said the doc-
280
tor, ”because the accumulation of meteoro-
lites on the surface of the earth is so ex-
ceedingly slow that it would take millions
of years, at the present rate, to increase its
diameter one inch.”
”But perhaps they came much faster in
past ages. Let me ask you, Doctor, if it is
not a fact that the rate of revolution of Mars
around the sun is slower than the earth’s?
281
I suppose you are far enough advanced in
astronomical science to answer that.”
”Yes,” replied the doctor, ”you are cor-
rect. I believe the earth speeds along at
nineteen miles a second, while Mars travels
only sixteen miles in the same time.”
”We know by our computations that our
speed is much less than it once was, and our
theory is that this has in some way hushed
282
those terrible storms and winds which we
know were formerly so frequent.”
Here the doctor thought he saw a chance
to make a point, and spoke as follows:
”If the meteorites come in quantities suf-
ﬁcient to have caused such changes, it seems
to me their fall must be as great a menace
to your peace as the evils they have cured.
They do not strike the earth in large num-
283
bers, but still we have a record of a shower
of meteoric stones which devastated a whole
village. I suppose all parts of your globe are
by this time well populated, and how can
you be entirely free from trouble when you
are living in constant danger of the downfall
of these great masses of rock?”
”But we don’t have meteorites now,”
replied Thorwald.
284
”Oh, you don’t?”
”No, they ceased falling long ago. Mars
is going slow enough for the present.”
”Very kind of them, I am sure, to stop
when you didn’t need them any longer,”
said the doctor; ”and I suppose you have
some plausible reason to give for their dis-
appearance.”
”Yes, we believe that the interplanetary
285
space was well ﬁlled with these small bod-
ies, circling around the sun, and when their
multitudinous and eccentric orbits intercepted
the orbits of the planets, they came within
the attraction of these larger masses. Mars
has merely, in the course of time, cleared
for itself a broad path in its yearly journey
and is now encountering no more straggling
fragments.”
286
”There, Doctor,” said I, ”you are well
answered. And now, Thorwald, tell us how
you have escaped other evils, famine and
ﬁre for instance.”
”Fire,” continued our friend, ”was one
of the ﬁrst foes subdued. We quite early
learned to make our habitations and every-
thing about us of ﬁreproof materials, and,
if I mistake not, you on the earth will not
287
long endure an enemy which can be so eas-
ily put down. You will ﬁnd all materials
can be so treated with chemicals as to be
absolutely safe from the ﬂames. We have
ﬁre only when and where we desire it.
”When you speak of famines you touch
a more diﬃcult subject, but here, too, time
and skill have wrought wonderful changes.
In our histories we read of the time when
288
the weather was chieﬂy noted for its ﬁck-
leness, and when some parts of our globe
were mere desert wastes, where rain was
unknown and no life could exist. And in
the inhabited portions one section would of-
ten be deluged with too much rain while
another would have none, both conditions
leading to a failure in agriculture and much
consequent suﬀering. A long time was spent
289
in gathering statistics, which ﬁnally proved
that if the rainfall were distributed there
would be just about enough to water suﬃ-
ciently the whole surface of the globe. Na-
ture provided rain enough, but it did not
always fall where and when it was most
needed. It seemed to be left with us to ﬁnd
a remedy for this apparent evil. When I say
’us’ in this way I mean our race as a whole,
290
for most of these changes took place many
ages ago.
”Our philosophers had seen so many dif-
ﬁculties removed and improvements made
in things supposed to be ﬁxed that they be-
gan, once upon a time, to assert that rain
and snow and the weather in general ought
to be subject to our will. They said that
in the advanced state of civilization toward
291
which we were progressing it would seem
to be an anomalous thing that we should
continue to be subjected to the annoyances
of so changeable a tyrant as the weather.
We seemed destined to gain control of so
many of the forces of nature that our future
mastery in this department looked to them
reasonable. For a long time these views ap-
peared fanciful to the many, but this did not
292
deter a few enthusiasts from study and ex-
periment. As knowledge and skill increased
we began, little by little, to gain control of
the elements; but do not imagine it was any-
thing less than a slow and laborious work.
”First, as we learned something of the
laws which control the precipitation of the
moisture suspended in the atmosphere, we
discovered a way to produce rain by me-
293
chanical means. As this discovery was grad-
ually developed we found we had really solved
the problem. For, as there was only a cer-
tain amount of moisture taken up into the
air, the quantity of rain could not be in-
creased nor diminished, and so when we
made it rain in one place it was always at
the expense of the rainfall somewhere else.
”Since those early days vast improve-
294
ment has been made, until now these laws,
once so mysterious and so perplexing, are
obedient to our service. The whole face of
our planet has been reclaimed, and drouth
and famine on the one hand and ﬂoods on
the other are entirely unknown. Each sec-
tion of country is given rain or snow or sun-
shine just as it needs it, and there is no un-
certainty in the matter.”
295
When Thorwald had reached this point
my curiosity prompted me to ask him to
tell us in a few words how they could make
it rain when they pleased, and he answered
that he would be glad to give us details of
all these matters if we insisted on it, but
he thought it would be better for him to
present a general view of the state of their
society, leaving it for us to see with our own
296
eyes how things were done, after we had
reached our destination.
I readily acquiesced, with an apology for
my interruption, and Thorwald resumed:
”The doctor spoke of accidents, sickness,
and severe toil as among the sources of your
troubles. With us, at the present day, all
natural laws are so well understood and so
faithfully obeyed that there are no accidents.
297
Machinery and appliances of all kinds are
perfect; nothing is left to chance, but every-
thing is governed by law. And as we follow
that law in every instance nothing can ever
happen, in the old sense of that word. To
take a homely example, you have of course
learned that it is not well to put your hand
into the ﬁre, and so, though you use a good
deal of ﬁre you keep your hands out of it.
298
You know what the law is, and you do not
tempt it. By our long experience we have
learned the operation of all laws, and in ev-
ery position in life we simply avoid putting
our hand into the ﬁre. To be sure, we have
been assisted in this by superior skill and
by our general steadiness and ripeness of
character. If I read history aright accidents
were caused by ignorance or neglect of law,
299
and I am sure the people of the earth, when
they begin to realize fully how unnecessary
they are, will soon outgrow them.
”As for sickness, you cannot understand
how strange the word sounds to me. Just
think for a moment how useless, how out
of place, such a thing as sickness is. Like
the subject just spoken of, it comes from
disobedience to law, and although I know
300
we were a long time in ridding ourselves of
it, it seems to me now that it must be one
of the easiest of your troubles to remove.
With us the science of medicine became so
perfect that it accomplished a great deal of
the reform, but more was done by each in-
dividual acquiring full knowledge of himself
and acting up to that knowledge. In learn-
ing to love our neighbors we did not for-
301
get to foster a proper love for ourselves. In
fact, our creed teaches that self-love is one
of our most important duties. When one is
instructed to love his neighbor as himself it
is presupposed that his aﬀection for himself
is of that high quality that will always lead
him to do the very best he can for every
part of his being. So, as our development
continued, we came in time to love ourselves
302
too well to despise or abuse or neglect the
bodies we lived in. We studied how best
to nurture and care for those bodies, and
when that lesson was thoroughly learned we
found that sickness and pain were gone, and
with them, also, all fear of death. For now
we die when our days are fully ended. The
span of our life has been doubled since we
began to know and care for ourselves, and,
303
at the close, death is anticipated and recog-
nized as a friend.”
CHAPTER VII.
RAPID TRANSIT ON MARS.
Here Thorwald paused and said he should
be obliged to leave us a short time to at-
304
tend to some duty in the management of
the vessel. When he returned I remarked
that neither he nor his companions seemed
to have to work very hard.
”That,” he answered, ”is just the thought
I want to speak of next, as the doctor has
said many earthly troubles arise from severe
labor. Here there is no hard work for us.
It is all done by some kind of mechanism.
305
Look at the handling of this ship, in which,
as you say, no one is burdened. The hard
and disagreeable parts of the work are taken
out of our hands and are put into the hand
of machinery, which in its perfection is al-
most intelligent. It is so in all departments
of work. Inventions looking toward the sav-
ing of labor have closely followed each other
for so many years that their object is about
306
accomplished, and all the pain and sorrow
accompanying daily toil are things of the
dead past. Even our animals are relieved
from distressing labor and share with us the
blessings of an advanced civilization, every
heavy weight being raised and every bur-
densome load being drawn by an arm of
steel or aluminum, which neither tires nor
feels. We do not need to pity a machine.
307
Why should ﬂesh and blood, whether of
dumb beasts or of more intelligent beings,
suﬀer the agony of labor when the work can
be better done by mechanical means?
”While speaking of the lower animals I
may as well say here that we have no wild
beasts. All have been tamed; not merely
brought into subjection, but made the friends
and companions in a sense of our higher
308
race. Every animal, large and small, has
lost its power and will to harm us. The
wasp has lost its sting, the serpent its poi-
son, and the tiger its desire to tear. And
not only is their enmity to us all gone, but
they no longer prey upon each other. Per-
fect peace reigns in this realm also.”
”What has brought about this highly in-
teresting condition?” I asked. ”Was there a
309
natural tendency toward perfection on the
part of the beasts?”
”No,” replied Thorwald, ”I think not.
The change has been accomplished by us.
Nothing that has life could help being up-
lifted by contact with our ever-expanding
civilization. We believe the chief factor in
working this great betterment in the ani-
mal creation has been our success in en-
310
tirely eliminating ﬂesh as an article of food.
We early came to see it was not necessary
for ourselves and that without it we were
much better prepared to assume the higher
duties belonging to our advanced life. We
then began to experiment with the animals
nearest us. It was a slow and discourag-
ing task at ﬁrst, but ﬁnally we obtained
results that gave us hope of success. We
311
found in the course of many years that the
digestive organs of the animals on which we
were experimenting were gradually becom-
ing accustomed to a vegetable diet. We con-
tinued the work, extending it to one class
of animals after another, until in time all
carnivorous instincts disappeared.”
This interested the doctor exceedingly,
and he remarked that he should think there
312
would have been some kinds of animals that
would resist all eﬀorts to work such a change
in them; but Thorwald answered:
”I have never read of such cases, but if
there were any the species must have be-
come extinct, for now, in all this world, no
conscious life is taken to support another
life. No blood is let for our refreshment and
no minutest creature is pursued and slain to
313
appease the appetite of its stronger neigh-
bor.”
”Does this condition extend even to the
ﬁsh of the sea?” inquired the doctor.
”Even to the ﬁsh of the sea,” answered
the Martian.
”Now that you discover,” he continued,
”what improvement has been wrought in
the lower animals, you can understand that
314
their comfort is an object of our solicitude,
and that we take great pleasure in knowing
that they are relieved from all hard labor.”
”But you haven’t told us,” said I, ”what
is the source of the power that does all your
work.”
”Let me ask,” replied Thorwald, ”if you
have begun to use electricity yet?”
”Yes,” I answered, ”we are trying to har-
315
ness it, but it is still far from obedient to
us.”
”I perceive,” said our friend, ”from this
and other things you have told me, that
your development is going on in about the
order which has prevailed on Mars. Do not
be discouraged in your eﬀorts to bring that
mysterious and wonderful agent, electricity,
into complete subjection. You will ﬁnd it
316
your most useful servant, and in connection
with aluminum it will enable you to solve
numerous problems and remove many diﬃ-
culties from your path of progress.
”Here we have made full use of both of
these valuable helps. Electricity enters into
every department of life.
”It runs our errands, takes us from place
to place, builds our houses, cooks our food,
317
and even is applied to the growth of our
food when we are in haste for any article.
Its laws are so well understood that there is
no fear of personal injury from its use, and
I will show you how familiar an aid it is
to us. Here,” he continued, taking from his
pocket a brightly polished case of metal, ”is
a compact storage battery, containing, not
electricity itself, of course, but elements so
318
prepared that a simple touch will start into
motion a powerful current, able to perform
almost any task I may ask of it. This case,
you see, is so small and light that it is no
burden, and yet it contains power enough
to serve me for many days. Of course, all
our work of a ﬁxed character has appliances
with the power permanently attached, and
these portable reservoirs are carried about
319
with us only for detached and unexpected
tasks.”
To my experienced eye the doctor’s face
looked a little skeptical at this last remark,
and he said:
”But how can the power be applied in
these emergencies? Suppose, for example,
it were necessary for you to go from here to
the other end of this vessel in half a second,
320
how would the electricity in your box help
you do it?”
”If I really thought, Doctor, you wanted
to be rid of me I would be tempted to try it;
but, as I told your companion just now, you
had better learn all you can of our history
before you begin to see what we can do.
”I haven’t told you half of the wonders
performed by this marvelous power. It has
321
long been our chief reliance for rapid travel-
ing. You ﬁnd us in this ship; but, although
navigation is a perfected science, this mode
of traveling is tedious, and ships are used
only for pleasure and such out- of-the-way
trips as this. Journeys from place to place
over established routes are made in large
tubes, in which the cars are propelled by
electricity. These tubes run both on land
322
and water, being suspended in the latter a
little way below the surface. Both tubes
and cars are air- tight, and the adjustment
is so perfect that the cars slide along with
the greatest ease. Riding in an air-tight
chamber would not be pleasant if much time
were to be occupied in that way, but the
cars are propelled so swiftly that the time
from one station to another is hardly appre-
323
ciable. At every stop the cars are opened
and apparatus set in motion which changes
the air completely almost in a moment. Where
the tubes run under water shafts for air are
put in at the stations. There is always a
double line, one tube for each direction. No
chance is left for accidents.
”Of course we navigate the air, swiftly
and safely. If not in too much haste we al-
324
ways take the aerial passage, and often on
a pleasant day the sky over a great city will
be as full of air ships, or balloons as we
still sometimes call them, as its harbor is
of pleasure boats. In this department in-
ventors had a fruitful ﬁeld, the use of alu-
minum oﬀering abundant opportunity for
the greatest variety of devices, and the de-
velopment of the ﬂying machine was one of
325
the most interesting features in the march
toward our present high civilization. Per-
haps the presence of so many electrical ma-
chines in the air and the utilization of so
much electricity on land and water have, af-
ter thousands of years, done much toward
freeing us from the thunderstorm, with its
deadly lightning. We have fairly robbed the
clouds of their electricity and taught it to
326
do our work.
”Swift and economical as our modern
electric cars are, there is one mode of travel-
ing sometimes adopted which is more rapid
still, and the cheapest and in some respects
the easiest way of getting over the surface
of the globe ever dreamed of. It was dis-
covered by accident, just before accidents
entirely ceased, in the following manner:
327
”A couple of scientiﬁc enthusiasts, of the
kind we call cranks–I don’t know what you
call them on the earth–conceived the idea
that they could ﬁnd something better to
take the place of the highly puriﬁed and
buoyant gases which we used in our ﬂy-
ing machines. They observed, in the lofty
ﬂights they were accustomed to make into
the air, that as they ascended the atmo-
328
sphere grew lighter, and this led them to
think they might go far into the upper re-
gions, collect large quantities of rareﬁed air,
bring it down, and use it for ﬂoating ﬂying
machines. Of course, they understood that
any vessel this thin air was put into must
be strong enough to prevent being collapsed
by the weight of the denser atmosphere on
the surface. But they thought small spheri-
329
cal vessels of very thin metal could be made
that would withstand this pressure and still
hold enough to ﬂoat and carry some weight
besides. They had a large number of these
hollow balls made and started on a trial
trip, expecting to bring down only a small
quantity each time. But, in their endeavor
to obtain the very best quality of lifting
material possible, they went much higher
330
than they intended, although this did not
cause them as much inconvenience as might
have been expected, since they were pro-
vided with the latest improved breathing
apparatus. The result of their adventure,
however, was a discovery of such magnitude
that it drove from their minds all thought of
their real errand and we never again heard
of that project. After remaining at an ex-
331
treme height a few hours, the surface of
the planet being hidden by clouds, they be-
gan to descend, and when they were near
enough to see the features of the country
below them, everything looked strange and
unknown. They could not account for this,
but continued their fall, fully persuaded that
it must be their own world and not some
other which they were approaching. But
332
even if they had not been correct in that,
they could hardly have been more surprised
than they were to ﬁnd, on landing, that
they were almost exactly on the opposite
side of the globe from the place where they
made the ascent. They seemed to have trav-
eled half way around the world in that in-
credibly short space of time, when in reality
they had remained stationary and the world
333
had traveled around them. The fact is, they
had risen above all the denser portion of
the planet’s atmosphere, and had reached a
stratum of extremely rareﬁed air, which, it
seems, does not accompany the globe in its
revolution. Of course, the facts were at once
heralded to the four quarters of the world,
and the two aerial travelers found them-
selves famous. But they did not wish to let
334
such an astounding discovery rest upon the
results of a single experiment, and so they
proved themselves worthy of their new fame
by going home the way they came. That
is, they mounted their ﬂying machine, rose
again to the same lofty height, remained
there about the same time as before, de-
scended, and were near their home.”
Here the doctor asked:
335
”And has this singular mode of traveling
become popular, Thorwald?”
”For long distances east and west it is
often resorted to. But I presume you are
asking yourself whether you could introduce
it on the earth. When you return and begin
to think it over you will probably see so
many practical diﬃculties in the way that
you will not attempt it. You must have
336
patience. All these things will come to your
race in time.”
CHAPTER VIII.
THORWALD PUZZLED.
”I fear,” continued Thorwald, ”that I
am wearying you with this long talk.”
337
We assured him we were enjoying it too
much to think of being tired, and hoped he
would not stop. But he said he had some
duties to attend to, and would take us to his
room and leave us by ourselves for a while.
As soon as we were alone the doctor
looked at me with a smile and said:
”Why did you act so queerly when I
spoke of Mona?”
338
”Why did you speak so?” I asked in re-
ply. ”And how could you tell Thorwald we
found one inhabitant on the moon?”
”Did you want to have me tell him a
falsehood?”
”Of course not. I tried to catch your eye
and keep you from saying any thing on the
subject till we could consult in regard to
it. If we are going to color our narrative in
339
order to make it more marvelous we must
at least make our stories agree.”
”My friend,” said the doctor, ”I am now
conﬁrmed in my suspicion that your brain
was aﬀected by your fall from the moon.”
I saw by this time that I need not hes-
itate further to tell the doctor the truth. I
disliked the task, but I saw it would not be
safe to leave him any longer in ignorance
340
of his condition. There as no telling what
other preposterous tales he might invent.
So I said to him gently:
”Doctor, your last remark makes it eas-
ier for me to tell you that the ﬁrst words
you said to me on this vessel showed me
that you were not right. I kept it from our
new friends here, and I thought I had bet-
ter tell you how you are, so you can be a
341
little cautious. You talk all right on most
subjects, but you will do well to avoid the
moon as a topic of conversation. If the oth-
ers ask any more questions about the moon,
you can just let me answer them.”
I said all this seriously enough, but the
doctor laughed boisterously as he answered:
”Well, if this isn’t a joke. You think I am
crazy, and I know you are crazy, and I can
342
prove it. I will just ask you one question,
which please answer truthfully. Don’t you
remember Mona?”
”Oh, there is Mona again! Don’t you see
that only proves your own madness? No, I
don’t remember Mona, and you don’t ei-
ther.”
”I must say,” returned the doctor, ”I
never expected to see you get over your in-
343
fatuation so quickly.”
”What direction did my infatuation, as
you call it, take?”
”Marriage, I should say.”
”Now you interest me,” I returned, ”and
you must tell me more. Is this Mona of
yours the sole resident of the moon, of whom
you spoke to Thorwald?”
”Certainly she is, but you surely must
344
be out of your head to call her my Mona–I
want no stronger proof.”
”How so?” I asked.
”Why, because but yesterday you scarce
wanted to have me speak to her. You tried
to keep your jealousy from me, but there
was not room enough in all the moon to
hide it.”
”This is very laughable,” I exclaimed.
345
”You did not think so then. But let me
try to bring it all back to you by another
question. Don’t you remember her voice?”
”Most truly I do not. Why, what was
the matter with her voice? Was it loud and
harsh, or was it squeaky? I cannot imagine
anything very pleasant in the way of a voice
in such a wild and withered home as the
moon would make.”
346
”True,” answered the doctor, ”as to the
outside, but you forget our visit to the in-
terior.”
”There it is again,” said I. ”Now, Doc-
tor, the sooner you get rid of these strange
notions the better So tell me your recollec-
tions of our stay in the moon, and I will let
you know where you are wrong.”
”Very well. You remember, of course,
347
when we found ourselves rushing away from
the earth so swiftly.”
”Yes, and then we remained shut up in
the car day after day, more dead than alive
I think, until, fortunately, we were spilled
out upon this more favored globe.”
”You seem to be sincere,” said the doc-
tor, ”but if you are, then you forget the
most interesting part of our experience. Just
348
as we were about to be overwhelmed with
our troubles we heard exquisite music, which
we soon found proceeded from a lovely maiden.
You fell desperately in love with her at ﬁrst
sight and never recovered till you were plunged
in the ocean of Mars. You insisted on fol-
lowing her nod, and she led us at once through
a narrow path down into the center of the
moon. Here, in her quiet home, we taught
349
her to sing in our language–her only speech
was song–and the ﬁrst words she used were
to say she loved me. She did not understand
what the words meant, of course, but you
looked as if you wished I had been blown
away before Mona had discovered us. After
that I helped you in your wooing all I could,
but although your passion increased every
day your suit did not seem to prosper. One
350
day I expressed the wish that I had some
of the things we had left in the car, where-
upon she led us out to the surface again,
where we arrived just in time to be thrown
upon this planet. Here we are, you and I,
all safe, but where is poor Mona?”
”I am sure it would take a wise man
to answer that question,” I replied. ”And
now let me show you, Doctor, how wrong
351
you are. If you will only try to exercise a
little of that good judgment for which you
are noted, you will be convinced that this
is only a pretty little fairy tale which has
somehow taken possession of a corner of
your brain. Now that the fairy is gone you
must try to forget the rest. Just think how
unlikely the whole story is. Think of a del-
icate girl living in such surroundings as we
352
found there; and then, how could we exist
down in the center of the moon?”
”Why, don’t you remember Mona told
us the water and atmosphere had all run
down there, making it the only habitable
part of the decaying globe?”
”Oh, that’s only one of your scientiﬁc
notions, probably as true as the others that
we have disproved. Too much science has
353
turned your head, and I will prove it to you
again by showing you how impossible is the
part which I play in your romance. I will
tell you now, what you doubtless do not
know, that I am engaged to be married to
the best woman in all the earth, excepting
your own good wife, of course.”
”Is that a fact?” asked the doctor. ”And
do you love her?”
354
”To be sure I do. I love her very dearly,
and if I ever see her again I shall tell her so
in a manner to make her understand it.”
”Why, doesn’t she understand it now?”
”Yes, I think so, but she thought I didn’t
show heart enough in my wooing.”
”Well, if she could see you with Mona
she would learn that you have plenty of
heart when the right one appears to make
355
it spring into life.”
”You speak as if you thought I did not
love Margaret. You do not know her. Why,
I wouldn’t once look at another woman any-
where, not even in Mars, and most certainly
not in that puckered-up old world that we
have just left, happily for us.”
”Do you know what I think about you?”
asked the doctor.
356
”No.”
”I think you have an exceedingly poor
memory. First, you forgot Margaret as soon
as the voice of that fair singer fell on your
ear, and now you have forgotten the singer
again the moment we have lost her. I await
with much interest your ﬁrst introduction
to a daughter of Mars.”
”You will be disappointed,” said I, ”if
357
you think I shall be more than civil to her.”
”If she be handsome and can turn a tune
moderately well, I shall be willing to wager
a fair young planet against the moon that
you will propose to her in a week.”
”I have done nothing to give you so poor
an opinion of me. It is only your own dis-
eased imagination, and I do not seem to be
curing it very fast. I suppose, because your
358
mind is naturally so strong, it is the more
diﬃcult to destroy such an hallucination as
has taken possession of you.”
”I would give it up,” said the doctor.
”The story is all true, and not a work of
my imagination. Isn’t it more reasonable
to believe that you could forget the circum-
stances I have related than that I could in-
vent such a tale?”
359
”Oh, I never could forget it if I had been
false to Margaret. You do not know me. If
your vagaries had taken any other direction
I might possibly be brought to think you
were right.”
By this time we both began to realize
that the conversation was not proving a great
success in the way we had hoped, and so, af-
ter some pleasant words and a hearty laugh
360
over the situation, we found our way to the
deck again. Here there were various things
to attract our attention, diﬀerent members
of the crew being eager to show us about.
The doctor asked some question in regard
to the system of steering the vessel, and
when one of the men had taken him back to-
ward the stern to explain the point, I found
Thorwald and quietly explained to him the
361
mental condition of my companion.
”The doctor is all right,” I said, ”on ev-
ery subject but one. His head must have
been injured a little in his fall, and he imag-
ines and asserts with positiveness that we
found a young woman in the moon, the last
of her race–a ridiculous idea, is it not?”
”And did you ﬁnd any inhabitants at
all?” asked Thorwald.
362
”Certainly not. No one could live in
such a place. It is indeed marvelous how
we existed long enough to get here. The
doctor calls this creature of his brain Mona,
says she was a great beauty, and plainly in-
timates that I was rather too attentive to
her. You will see what a convincing proof
this is of his unsound condition when I tell
you I am engaged to the best woman on
363
the earth, and so of course could not show
any marked preference for another. I have
told you about the doctor so that you may
pass over unnoticed any allusion he makes
to these subjects.”
Thorwald thanked me and said he would
be careful not to embarrass us in the mat-
ter. And so I ﬂattered myself that in the
future Thorwald and I would sympathize
364
with each other in commiserating the doc-
tor. But I afterward learned that the doc-
tor, about this time, had also sought an
interview with Thorwald and had conﬁded
the following secret to him:
”My friend,” said he, ”is a ﬁne young fel-
low, but his head must have been injured in
his fall. He has entirely forgotten the best of
our experience in the moon. Queer, too, for
365
he fell in love with the only and last inhabi-
tant of that globe, a beautiful, sweet-voiced
maiden named Mona, who never talked but
she sang.”
Thorwald then made the doctor tell him
the whole story, and at the close he promised
he would not pay much attention to any-
thing I might say on the subject in future
conversation.
366
So it was quite a puzzle to Thorwald to
tell which of his visitors from the earth was
of unsettled mind and which in his normal
condition. He decided to hold the question
open and wait for further evidence.
367
CHAPTER IX.
THORWALD AS A PROPHET.
As maybe supposed, the doctor and I
were anxious to hear more about Mars, and
it was not long before we were all seated
together again, when Thorwald resumed his
instructive talk.
”What further can I tell you of our con-
368
dition and achievements? Every science has
made mighty progress in bestowing its own
beneﬁt upon us. New arts have been dis-
covered in the course of our development,
about which you would understand noth-
ing. The aim and result of all science have
been to add to our comfort and happiness–
our true happiness, which consists in im-
provement and the constant uplifting of char-
369
acter. The evils that once vexed our world,
both those occasioned by natural phenom-
ena and those brought about by our own
ignorance and sin, have, as you have heard,
almost completely disappeared. Even men-
tal troubles are gone, and no corroding care
destroys our peace, for there is nothing for
us to dread; no dark future, ﬁlled with un-
known evils, awaits our unwilling feet, and
370
no superstitious or unnatural fear disturbs
the peaceful quiet of our sleep.”
”And are we to understand, Thorwald,”
I asked, ”that you believe all this rest from
trouble and wrongdoing is coming to the
earth, too?”
”Before replying directly to your ques-
tion,” answered Thorwald, ”let me ask you
if there is any tendency in that direction.
371
Look back to the earliest days of your his-
tory and compare the state of things then
existing with that of your own times. Has
your world made any progress? Is there
any less violence? Are men learning to live
without ﬁghting? Are the dark corners of
the earth coming to the light?”
”In these and many other directions,”
I answered, ”I think we can see improve-
372
ment.”
”Then,” continued Thorwald, ”it seems
to me you must believe with me that your
world will one day come to the condition
in which you ﬁnd us. Have not your holy
prophets foretold a time of universal peace
both for man and beast, a time when a
higher law than selﬁshness shall govern all
hearts and the earth be ﬁlled with the spirit
373
of love?”
”They have,” I replied, ”but most of us
are so engrossed in the struggle for existence
that we think lightly or not at all of such
things. These prophecies have never im-
pressed me as they do now when I see your
condition, and reﬂect that similar words may
have been spoken and then fulﬁlled here.”
”Let me assure you,” Thorwald made
374
haste to say, ”that the earth is still young. I
can see by all you say that your age is one of
unusual vitality and progress. A ﬁrm faith
that victory will come and that the golden
age is before you will be a great help in your
struggle with evil. Lay hold of that faith.
It is yours. It needs no prophet to tell you
that your race will one day reach our blessed
state. First will come the spirit of peace,
375
and as I am sure war must be repugnant to
such minds as yours, you will readily learn
to put it away from you. Then will begin to
cease all bitterness between man and man,
and you will be started on the road that
leads to brotherly kindness. A world of sor-
rows will fall away with the passing of indi-
vidual and national strife, not only the hor-
ror of the battleﬁeld and the misery that fol-
376
lows it, but also the more secret and world-
wide unhappiness that comes from the petty
conﬂicts over the so-called rights of person
and property. Selﬁshness, that monstrous
source of evil, must be dethroned, and then
the rights of each will be cared for by all.
This will usher in for you a new era.
”And now, when the mighty energy that
has been expended in learning and practic-
377
ing the science of war, the skill that has
been given to the art of killing, the treasures
of money and blood, the time, the brain and
the activities that have been employed in
carrying out plans of aggression, large and
small, of neighbor against neighbor–when
these have all been turned toward the bet-
terment of your condition and the salvation
of men from degradation and sin, then will
378
the arts of peace ﬂourish and your day be-
gin. Then will nature herself come to your
assistance, molding her laws to your conve-
nience and comfort. It will doubtless be a
long time before a man can love and con-
sider his neighbor as himself, and before all
of God’s creatures on your planet can dwell
together in perfect peace, but, believe me,
the earth will live to see that time.”
379
”Thorwald,” spoke the doctor, ”your words
are so inspiring that I almost wish my life
could have waited some thousands of years
for that bright day you so conﬁdently promise
for the earth, but I cannot help asking my-
self if it is altogether a misfortune to live
in the midst of the conﬂict, with something
ahead to strive for. Will you pardon my
presumption if I ask you practically the same
380
question? You have told us of your wonder-
ful history and that you have now reached a
condition of peace and quiet. With no sick-
ness or sorrow in your lives, with no evil
passions to rise and throw you, with noth-
ing to fear from without or within, yours
must be a blissful condition. But still, is
there always content? In our imperfect state
we are striving and learning. Our happi-
381
ness largely consists in the pursuit of hap-
piness. If, some day, we should ﬁnd all dif-
ﬁculties removed, no obstacles left to con-
tend against, no evil in ourselves or others
to overcome, not even our bodily wants to
provide for, it seems to me life would lose its
zest and become a burden hardly worth the
carrying. Can you remove this unhandsome
doubt?”
382
”I will try,” answered Thorwald. ”I sup-
pose if the people of the earth, with their
present capacities and aspirations, should
be brought suddenly to such a state of civ-
ilization as ours, it would be as you say.
As your development continues, your minds
and souls will expand and you will be pre-
pared to take up new duties and occupa-
tions as they come. I cannot tell you what
383
these are, for at present you would not un-
derstand me. You mistake if you think we
have ceased to learn. The mind is ever
reaching forward to new attainments, and
the things which chieﬂy occupy us now would
have been beyond our comprehension in our
earlier days. Can you not ﬁnd an illustra-
tion on the earth? Suppose the untutored
savage were suddenly required to throw away
384
his spear and arrow and engage in your pur-
suits, Doctor. Would he be happy? Your
mind is full of thoughts that he cannot grasp,
your life is made up of experiences and aspi-
rations of which he has no conception. You
can see your superiority to the savage. Let
me help you to look forward and see your in-
feriority to the coming man, who, I assure
you, will never tire of life while anything
385
that God has made remains to be studied.
As the mind expands, new wonders and new
beauties in creation will unfold themselves
and your race will learn to look back with
pity upon your present age, with its mean
and trivial occupations.”
”But, Thorwald,” I asked, ”can you not
tell us something of these higher pursuits?”
”But very little,” he answered. ”I might
386
give you one or two hints of some things
which I think lie nearest you, if indeed you
have not already begun to consider them.
I need hardly speak of astronomy, which,
from the nature of the case, is the earliest of
all sciences wherever there is intelligent life
to view the works of creation. You will ﬁnd
great proﬁt in advancing in this study as
rapidly as possible. We have not yet ceased
387
to pursue it, and I think it is one branch of
knowledge which will never be exhausted,
in the present life at least. Our achieve-
ments in astronomy have been marvelous.
”Do not neglect to look in the other di-
rection also for evidences of God’s power
and wisdom. The microscope will almost
keep pace with the telescope in revealing
the wonders of creation. It will greatly as-
388
sist you in many of your higher employ-
ments.
”One thing that you will doubtless soon
undertake is the study of the speech of an-
imals, which will go hand in hand with the
development of their intelligence. Both of
these will claim much attention, but very
inadequate results will be obtained until af-
ter you have tamed and domesticated the
389
various species. You will want to discover
how far animals can be educated and whether
their intelligence can ever be developed into
mind. As you progress in this study you
will feel the necessity of understanding their
conversation and you will learn what you
can of their language. These tasks will seem
of more importance to you when the lower
animals are all reclaimed and become the
390
companions and friends of man. You will
try to discover the particular purpose for
which each species was created, and you
will even be led to inquire, by a long se-
ries of experiments, whether they possess
the faintest shadow of moral perceptions.
”Then there is the great subject of plant
life. Does the sensitiveness of plants ever
amount to sensibility or feeling? If so, is it
391
a feeling you are bound to respect? That
is, should a wounded and bleeding tree ex-
cite in you even the slightest shade of that
sympathy you feel with a distressed ani-
mal? These are inquiries which you doubt-
less think of little moment now, but we have
spent many years pursuing them.
”These are only a few faint indications
of the multitude of questions which lie be-
392
fore you for study. In every investigation
which you follow, whether connected with
the mysteries of your own complex being
or with the unexplored depths of creation
around you, a chief source of interest will
be the constant discovery of a perfect adap-
tation in the works of God. Of course you
know something of it already, but you will
never cease to wonder at the unfolding of
393
this truth, as you come to realize more and
more fully that creation is one, and is moved
and ruled by one intelligence.
”Oh, do not imagine that in the ages
to come there will be nothing to make life
interesting. As your civilization advances
and you are released gradually from trouble
and care, and from those petty aﬀairs which
now so occupy you, your minds and souls
394
will grow, and you will see far more ahead
of you worth striving for than you now do.
Your happiness can still consist largely in
the pursuit of happiness.”
CHAPTER X
MORE WORLDS THAN TWO.
395
It was now so late in the day that fur-
ther conversation was postponed, and after
a plain but exceedingly enjoyable supper we
were shown to luxurious rooms, where we
spent our ﬁrst night in Mars in great com-
fort.
In the morning Thorwald told us we would
reach our port in a few hours, and so we sat
down as early as we could after breakfast for
396
a short talk.
The doctor furnished the text by open-
ing the conversation with this remark:
”It is wonderful to think we should ﬁnd
on this planet a race of people so advanced,
when so little thought is given, on the earth,
to the idea of life in other worlds.”
”What has been the general opinion among
you on that subject?” asked Thorwald.
397
”The subject has not had standing enough
to call forth much opinion,” the doctor an-
swered. ”There is an almost universal indif-
ference in regard to the matter. I think the
common notion is that the earth is about all
there is in the universe worth considering.”
”But what are your own views, Doc-
tor?”
”I have been one of those,” he replied,
398
”who believed the notion of life outside the
earth to be a beautiful theory without one
shred of scientiﬁc basis. We knew the earth
was inhabited and the moon was not, and
there we stopped. We did not know, and
thought we never could know, anything that
could be called evidence pointing to the ex-
istence of life in the other planets or else-
where, and we held that there was no ad-
399
vantage in speculation. We thought it un-
wise to spend much time or thought on a
subject about which we could know noth-
ing. On coming here and ﬁnding you I have
learned that Mars is inhabited, but I do not
know any more about the other planets or
stars.”
”Does not the mere knowledge that there
are two life-bearing bodies lead you to be-
400
lieve that there are more, among the vast
numbers of worlds which you have not vis-
ited?”
”I don’t see why it should. How can
we believe anything without evidence? No
one has ever come to us from those distant
globes, and they are too far away for us to
see what is taking place on their surface.”
”It seems strange, Doctor, to hear you
401
reason in that way, but I suppose some of
our race were just as narrow, if you will
pardon me for using that word, as you are,
before our wonderful successes in astron-
omy. I believe you have not properly con-
sidered the subject, for it seems to me you
had knowledge enough, before you left the
earth, to justify you in holding to a strong
probability of life beyond your own globe.
402
”Let us see what some of that knowl-
edge is. You know, to begin with, that one
world is inhabited. Then if you should ﬁnd
other bodies as large as the earth and bear-
ing any resemblance to it, there would be
no improbability in the thought that they
or some of them were ﬁlled with life. The
improbability is certainly taken away by the
knowledge that one such body, the earth, is
403
inhabited.
”You start, then, without prejudice, on
a voyage of discovery, aided by your tele-
scope and your reasoning faculties.
”First you ﬁnd, within distances that
you can easily measure, a small group of
dark bodies, which you have called plan-
ets, all apparently governed by a common
law, in obedience to which they are cir-
404
cling around a large body of quite diﬀer-
ent character, which gives them light and
heat. Of these dark bodies, which shine in
the sky only by reﬂected light, the earth is
one, and, you are surprised to ﬁnd, not the
most important one, judging from all you
can discover. Some of the others are much
larger and are attended by more satellites.
In fact, the earth is indistinguishable in this
405
little group. While it is not the largest, nei-
ther is it the smallest. It is not the far-
thest from the sun nor the nearest to it.
It is merely one among the number. And
how much alike the members of this fam-
ily are. Your telescopes do not point out
any material diﬀerences, although each has
its individual characteristics. Let us enu-
merate some of the many points of resem-
406
blance. They all turn on themselves as well
as revolve around the sun. All see the night
follow the day, and in most of them there
must occur the regular succession of sea-
sons. To each one the sun is the source of
light and heat, many of them have moons,
and all can see the stars. Nor does the
resemblance stop here. For you have dis-
covered that one has an atmosphere, an-
407
other is surrounded with clouds, while on
the surface of our own globe you see the po-
lar snows increase in winter and melt away
in summer. Is it not probable that if you
could get nearer to these globes you would
ﬁnd still closer resemblances? And if they
are like the earth in so many ways, is it at
all unlikely that they may, at some period
of their existence, be the abode of intelli-
408
gent life? For what other purpose were they
made, Doctor?”
”They make very pretty objects for us
to look at,” replied my companion.
”Yes, those that can be seen,” said Thor-
wald; ”but is that all? Were those great
worlds, some of them hundreds of times larger
than your own globe, created merely to add
a little variety to your sky, and to give you
409
the pleasant task of watching their move-
ments under the pretty title of morning and
evening star?” ”Speaking from the knowl-
edge I had when I left the earth,” the doc-
tor answered, ”I can say I never heard that
they were put to any other use. No one ever
came down to us from any of them to tell
us they were inhabited.”
”And do you think,” asked Thorwald,
410
”that the myriads of stars were also made
simply to delight the eye of man?”
”How do I know that they were not?”
the doctor asked in reply.
”Because of the absolute unreasonable-
ness of the thought, if for no other reason,”
answered Thorwald. ”But now let me re-
call to your mind more of the knowledge
possessed by the inhabitants of the earth.
411
I think I know about what that knowledge
is, from my acquaintance with the present
state of your development. Astronomy has
been our master science, and I can remem-
ber fairly well the extent of our knowledge
when we had reached your stage. If I should
fall into the error of attributing to you more
than you have already discovered you can
easily correct me.
412
”If, now, you leave the little group of
dark bodies which are so like the earth, and
go out still further into space, what do you
ﬁnd? At distances so great that only the
speed of light can be used as a measur-
ing line, you discover vast numbers of self-
luminous bodies, which you call stars. Your
natural eye can tell but a small fraction of
their number. For example, look at the con-
413
stellation you have named the Pleiades and
you see six or seven stars. View it through
a three-inch telescope and you can count
perhaps three hundred. Now attach a pho-
tographic plate to the telescope, and with
an exposure of four hours the light coming
from that small patch of sky falls upon the
sensitive ﬁlm with a cumulative eﬀect until
you have a picture of more than two thou-
414
sand three hundred stars.”
”Yes,” broke in the doctor, ”you are gaug-
ing correctly the state of our knowledge.
Our largest telescopes reveal in the entire
sky, it is said, one hundred million stars.”
”Then,” answered Thorwald, ”if the glo-
ries of the heavens were made merely to de-
light the eye of man, why was not the eye
created of suﬃcient power to behold them?
415
As it is, only a small proportion of the stars
can be seen without the aid of instruments
too costly and too delicate for general use.
”But have you the means of establishing
any likeness between the earth and those
distant bodies? You have discovered that
the law of gravitation is universal and that
the motions of the stars resemble those of
the solar system. Have you made any dis-
416
coveries tending to prove the existence of
other systems like our own?”
”Yes,” replied the doctor, ”our recent
investigations of the periods of some of the
variable stars show irregularities in bright-
ness, period, and proper motion. A close
study of these irregularities has convinced
some of our astronomers that there are in-
visible bodies near them, evidently planets
417
circling around a central sun. The theory
is that the dark bodies cause slight per-
turbations in the star, which account for
the irregularities in period, motion, etc. So
Neptune was discovered by the eﬀect it had
upon the observed movements of Uranus.
This is the ﬁrst evidence we have had tend-
ing to prove that there are other groups of
worlds like ours, and it is considered quite
418
signiﬁcant.”
”I can readily believe it,” said Thorwald,
”and I know how helpful every bit of evi-
dence is, in your search for knowledge. But
if I mistake not you have the aid of another
instrument, which is destined to play an im-
portant part in your future studies. You
get much nearer those distant orbs when a
spectroscope is placed at the end of the tele-
419
scope, and the ray of light coming from sun
and star is widened out into a band of color,
which tells a marvelous story. That light,
that has been for years, and perhaps for
centuries, on its way to you, now discloses
the very nature of the substances which com-
pose those ﬁery globes. And what are those
substances? It must have been a startling
truth to the man who ﬁrst read from the
420
spectrum of the star he was studying, that
it contained matter with which he was fa-
miliar, materials of which the earth itself
is made. By this science you have learned
beyond doubt that many of the commonest
elements of the earth’s crust exist also in
other worlds, and, what is of great signiﬁ-
cance, that the materials most closely con-
nected with living organisms on the earth,
421
such as hydrogen, sodium, magnesium, and
iron, are the very ones which are found most
widely diﬀused among the stars. I think
I am not wrong in assuming that you are
somewhat acquainted with the spectroscope
and have made these discoveries.”
”You are quite right,” said the doctor.
”This branch of scientiﬁc investigation has
already been carried so far with us, and
422
the results of the experiments are so con-
stant and uniform, that when it is asserted,
for example, that such and such a metal is
present in a state of vapor in the sun’s at-
mosphere, it is estimated that the chances
in favor of the correctness of the assertion
are as 300,000,000 to 1.”
”You are helping my argument, Doc-
tor,” resumed Thorwald. ”But now let me
423
call your attention to another ﬁeld of in-
quiry, in our search for evidence to estab-
lish a likeness between the earth and the
other parts of the universe. You told me,
a while ago, that you have the fall of me-
teorites on your globe. Have you consid-
ered the striking evidence they bring you?
Let us imagine we have a meteoric fragment
here. Take it in your hand and think of it
424
a moment. You have few things on your
earth as interesting as this piece of metallic
stone. What a world of questions it starts!
What is its composition? Whence comes
it? Once it was in existence, but not here.
Where, then, was its home? Out, out in
the depths of space, where burning suns roll
and comets have their dwelling place. The
stars have fallen indeed, and here is one of
425
the pieces. Before it came to us as a messen-
ger from the sky did it have an independent
existence, or is it a fragment of a shattered
world? How long has it been whirling in its
unknown orbit, and what story has it for us
from its distant birthplace? If we can dis-
cover whence meteorites come, and of what
they are composed, I think you will agree
with me that they furnish valuable testi-
426
mony in our inquiry. You have no doubt
had many theories as to their origin.”
I was just about to make answer to this
implied question, when Thorwald rose and
eagerly scanned the horizon. After a mo-
ment he exclaimed:
”We shall have to break oﬀ our conver-
sation for a time, as we are nearing our port.
I knew by other means that land must soon
427
appear, and now I can see it.”
CHAPTER XI
MARS AS IT IS.
The doctor and I looked in the direction
indicated and speedily realized that the su-
periority of the dwellers on Mars extended
428
to the sense of sight, for we could see noth-
ing. But we were sailing so swiftly that
the shore we were approaching was before
very long brought within our vision also,
and among the alert crew, who were now
preparing to bring the vessel into its har-
bor, there could be none so interested in
what was to come as the doctor and myself.
We were to see what had been accomplished
429
by a race of whose perfections we had been
hearing so much.
As we eﬀected a landing and walked up
the streets of the city, we were not nearly
so much impressed with the size and beauty
of the buildings and the appearance of the
people as we were by the spirit of absolute
peace and quiet which prevailed. With per-
fect skill, and without noise or bustle, the
430
ship was brought to its dock and the crew
went ashore. The screams and calls, the
rattle of vehicles and the babel of sounds
we had been accustomed to on such occa-
sions, were all missing. The silence and
order were almost oppressive because they
were so strange. But there was no lack of
activity among the immense creatures who
thronged around us. Everyone was busy,
431
knowing apparently just what to do with-
out direction from others, and just the best
way to do it. Beings with lungs powerful
enough to wake the mountain echoes went
about with mild and tuneful voices, and,
though each one seemed possessed of a gi-
ant’s strength, no severe labor was required
of any.
The streets and walks were paved with a
432
soft material, yielding slightly to pressure,
but so ﬁrm and tough that it showed no sign
of wear, an ideal pavement, over which the
wheels rolled as noiselessly as they would
over a velvet carpet. It was, moreover, laid
in beautiful patterns of the most varied col-
ors. The vehicles, of which there were many
kinds for diﬀerent uses, were so faultlessly
made that they moved with the utmost quiet
433
and apparent ease, the power that propelled
them being invisible. There were no tracks
or wires, but all were guided in any direc-
tion and with any speed at the pleasure of
the riders.
Thorwald led me from the vessel, and
another stalwart son of Mars took charge
of the doctor. After walking a few steps
up the street we all stepped into an empty
434
carriage without saying as much as ”by your
leave,” Thorwald touched a button, and we
were oﬀ.
”This,” said Thorwald, ”is one of the
best illustrations of the manner in which
we are applying electricity. You saw them
also unloading the heavy freight from the
boat by the same power. So all our work is
done. No ﬂeshly limb is strained, no con-
435
scious life is burdened, by any of the labor
of our complex society. This subtle force is
so well controlled and its laws are so thor-
oughly understood that it is equal to every
demand.”
”I am entranced, Thorwald,” said the
doctor, ”with everything I see. But I would
like to ask if you own this comfortable car-
riage and had it sent to the wharf to meet
436
you.”
”I own it,” our friend replied, ”just as
I own the street we are riding over or the
house I live in. I own this or any other ve-
hicle whenever I desire to use it. You saw
a great number of carriages near the wharf,
and there are several over on that corner.
Anyone is at perfect liberty to appropriate
one to his own use at any time, and when
437
he is through he merely leaves it at a con-
venient place by the roadside for some one
else to take.”
”I should think they would be stolen,”
said I.
Thorwald laughed at my ignorance and
answered: ”Why, who is there to steal when
everybody, either friend or stranger, can use
them as often and as long as he likes?”
438
The talk promised to grow more inter-
esting still, but now our attention was turned
to the delightful scene through which we
were passing. It will be utterly impossi-
ble to describe the beauty of the landscape,
where nature and art seemed to be striving
to outdo each other. Before reaching land I
had imagined that the houses, if they were
to be proportioned to the inhabitants, must
439
pierce the sky. But we were surprised to
ﬁnd that they were all comparatively low, of
not more than two or three stories. And all,
even those near the wharf, were surrounded
with ample grounds. Some of the houses
were larger than others, some more ornate
than their neighbors, and the architecture
varied as much as the size and arrangement
of the grounds. But all were beautiful be-
440
yond description. One thing that appeared
very strange to us was that the prevailing
color of the vegetation was red, although
that shade did not predominate as much
as green does on the earth. For instance,
after we had admired a stretch of lawn bril-
liant as a crimson sky, we would come to
another which would surprise and please us
with a lovely shade of blue. Still another
441
was green, and then one glowed with a va-
riety of colors, whose combination showed a
most reﬁned taste. As with the grass, so it
was with the foliage of the trees. The rich-
est tints of our autumnal forests were here
present in permanence, but with a much
greater wealth of coloring. Flowers, too, of
every hue and form were to be seen on all
sides, and their appearance was so perfectly
442
natural that if they had been set with de-
sign then the art itself had concealed the
art of their arrangement.
With all this mass of color there were no
unpleasant contrasts, no discordant tones.
As, amid the bustle of the landing place,
our ears had not been shocked with rude
noises, so now we received through our eyes
only a delightful sense of quiet beauty.
443
Riding, now slowly and now more rapidly,
through such a scene, we could think of
nothing better to question our friend about,
so the doctor found his voice and said:
”This far surpasses our anticipations, Thor-
wald, and I am sure this place must be ex-
ceptional, even on Mars. I suppose it is
a resort where some of your wealthy peo-
ple have built themselves homes in which
444
to enjoy their leisure months.”
”Nothing of the kind,” replied Thorwald.
”These people live here all the year, they
are not wealthy, and there is nothing to dis-
tinguish this city above others.”
”Why, this seems more like a private
park than a city. Where are your crowded
streets and houses for the poor?”
”After all I have told you of our high
445
civilization, Doctor, do you not understand
that we have long since abolished poverty?”
”Yes,” answered the doctor, ”I under-
stand that in a general way; but I did not
suppose everybody was rich, as it is certain
everybody must be to own such palaces as
these.”
”You are still wrong,” said Thorwald.
”We have no such distinctions as rich and
446
poor. All our cities are of this character,
only there is great variety in the residences
and in the way in which the streets and lots
are laid out. These places that we are pass-
ing are inferior to many, but no houses are
built that are at all mean or uncomfortable.
Indeed, I think we have to-day passed some
of the poorest that I know of. As to the
word city, we use it only as a convenient
447
expression. It really means nothing more
than a certain locality, for, as I told you at
the beginning of our conversation, we have
no need of government of any kind. In some
sections one city runs into another, so that
the whole country is ﬁlled with the beauty
and delight of the landscape which you see
about you.”
”But,” asked the doctor, ”with the pop-
448
ulation spread out in this marvelous way, is
there room for everybody?”
”Oh, yes,” answered Thorwald. ”All the
surface of our planet is brought into use;
the waste places are reclaimed, and there is
abundant room for all. And now, as this
pleasant air and easy motion seem to be
agreeable to you, we may as well ride slowly
for a while longer.
449
”In your intercourse with us you will
ﬁnd it is never necessary for us to hurry
when, for any good reason, we choose to loi-
ter, and, therefore, if you care to hear me
talk, I will take the time to correct another
wrong impression you seem to have.
”You spoke, Doctor, about the people
owning these houses. No one owns them.”
”Do they belong to the state?” asked the
450
doctor.
”There is no state.”
”Well, this is a curious condition of af-
fairs,” resumed the doctor. ”Here is valu-
able property belonging to no one and no
government to claim it. I should think any-
one that happened along could take posses-
sion.”
”Now you are right,” said Thorwald. ”That
451
is just the state of the case. It is with houses
and all other property as I told you it was
with this carriage. All the right one has to
any object is the right to use it. Everything
that has been produced by art and skill is
just as free as the bounties of nature, such
as air and water and land, which of course
no one would ever dream of subjecting to
private ownership.”
452
The doctor winced as he heard Thor-
wald include land among these free boun-
ties of nature, and the expression of his face
did not escape the quick eye of the Martian,
who exclaimed:
”So you earth-dwellers are still in the
habit of buying and selling land, are you?”
”That was the practice when we left home,”
replied the doctor. ”And I cannot under-
453
stand how we can do diﬀerently. Your views
of property are so strange to us that I am
sure my companion will join me in asking
you to explain them more fully.”
”I certainly do,” I said.
”Property,” began Thorwald, ”we do not
have, but we have many of the rights of pro-
prietorship in the things we use from time
to time. And what other beneﬁt than the
454
free use of what we need could be derived
from the possession of things? Suppose I,
for example, owned a thousand acres of land
and a hundred ﬁne mansions. I could culti-
vate but a small part of the land and occupy
but one house at a time, and of what value
would the remainder be?”
”Would not such palaces as these on this
beautiful street bring a good rent?” I in-
455
quired.
”Don’t be stupid,” replied Thorwald good-
naturedly. ”You must know by this time
that we are not a race of self-seekers, each
one taking advantage of the necessity of his
neighbor. But I suppose it is diﬃcult for
you to appreciate a state of society in which
each individual considers the feelings and
needs of others as much as his own. With us
456
this principle is not preached any more, but
it is actually practiced in all our aﬀairs.”
”I will try to keep that in mind,” I said,
”although it is a fact I can hardly realize.
But about this matter of houses I want to
make another inquiry. After you have be-
come established in a beautiful home to which
you have no more right than anyone else,
what is to prevent some other man (I use
457
the word for convenience) coming forward
and asking you to give it up to him?”
”Nothing,” answered Thorwald. ”In such
a case I should immediately move out and
let him have it, knowing he must be entirely
unselﬁsh in the matter and that there must
be some suﬃcient reason for the request.”
”But would you go to all the trouble of
moving without even knowing his reason?”
458
”Yes, I would do it to accommodate him,
but then the trouble would be nothing. We
would merely have to go out and take an-
other house.”
”But would you not have to move all the
furniture?”
”Oh, no. We could take anything we
pleased, of course, but it is not usual to
make radical changes. Another house would
459
contain all that was desirable. As a matter
of fact, however, such removals are by no
means frequent. We usually remain in one
place and acquire all the tender associations
of home which could be possible under any
system. But if a family should increase so
that it would be better for them to take a
larger house, they could easily ﬁnd one, or
if not they would ask those who are fond of
460
that work to build one to their taste. The
moment a thing is made or produced it be-
longs to the general store, to be used by any
and all who need it.”
”Under such conditions,” said I, ”what
we call the eighth commandment would be
superﬂuous.”
”If that refers to theft,” answered Thor-
wald, ”you are certainly right, for it is im-
461
possible to steal where everything is free.
”It will be well for you to understand
how happily we have solved this question
of property, but of course we could not have
found such a solution until we had ﬁrst reached
a high spiritual plane and learned the les-
son of true brotherhood. From your words
I know just about the point in our develop-
ment which corresponds with the present
462
state of your race, and therefore I know
something of the nature of the struggle through
which the earth is now passing. I warn you
that the unrestricted right of private own-
ership is a menace to your civilization, all
the greater because its evil is probably not
clearly seen. We are assured by our histo-
rians, who try to point out the causes for
all the great convulsions in our career, that
463
excessive individualism in property rights,
with its selﬁsh disregard of others, was a po-
tent factor in the downfall of many of the
enlightened nations of our antiquity. We
have noticed that even our animals have
the instinct of possession, and it is certain
that the love of ownership and accumula-
tion has been one of the hardest evils to
eradicate from our naturally selﬁsh nature.
464
If you should ever return to the earth, do
not neglect to signal for this danger.”
”But what is the remedy?” asked the
doctor. ”The system of which you have
been speaking might be called the main-
spring of our society. I can hardly imagine
what we should be without it. With our
note of warning, what message of help will
you send?” ”Doctor,” answered Thorwald,
465
”it pleases me to hear you ask that ques-
tion, and I am rejoiced also that I have so
good an answer for you. The remedy is to
be found in the law of love. Follow that law
as closely as possible. The way will be hard,
the progress slow, but every step taken will
be a solid advance. It is the only safe road,
and you will ﬁnd that every other will lead
to disappointment and disaster.”
466
Whenever Thorwald struck these high
spiritual themes he spoke with such enthu-
siasm and positiveness that our respect for
him increased rapidly.
CHAPTER XII.
WE REACH THORWALD’S HOME.
467
All this time we had been riding leisurely
along, enraptured with the delightful coun-
try, while the way itself and the estates on
either hand oﬀered such variety of landscape
that the view never became tiresome nor
uninteresting.
But as the day was waning, our friends
quickened the pace and showed us a burst
of speed. This was most exhilarating, and
468
soon brought us to the station where Thor-
wald told us we were to take an express
train for home, which was about two hun-
dred miles distant.
When we alighted we left our carriage
by the roadside among many others, and
entered an immense building. Both inside
and out there were plenty of people mov-
ing around, but without noise or unpleas-
469
ant bustle. With no delay, and also with
no haste, we entered what appeared to be a
smaller apartment opening out of the gen-
eral waiting-room. It had the appearance
of an elegant drawing-room, the rich but
comfortable-looking furniture being disposed
in a careless manner, which helped to make
us feel at home, if anything could bring
us that sensation. There was a door at
470
each end of the room, and soon these were
closed and we felt an almost imperceptible
jar. The doctor glanced hastily at Thor-
wald and said:
”Can it be possible that we are to travel
in this apartment?”
”Yes,” answered Thorwald, ”this is our
modern traveling coach, and we are already
on our way to the city in which my friend
471
here and I reside.”
This latter fact surprised us, for we could
not perceive by our senses that we were in
motion. But as we sat wondering and trying
to imagine ourselves ﬂying through space,
the doors opened, a pleasant breeze fanned
our cheeks, and the doors closed again, we
felt that slight jar repeated, and then we
were quiet once more. This occurred ev-
472
ery two or three minutes, and, remember-
ing what Thorwald had previously told us,
we realized that we were riding in a per-
fectly tight car in a vacuum tube and that
these short but frequent stops were to keep
us supplied with fresh air.
Thorwald explained this to us again, and
told us that the coaches were of diﬀerent
sizes to accommodate large or small parties,
473
and that one could ride alone if he chose to.
The cars started so frequently that it was
seldom necessary to wait more than a few
minutes. The doctor thought there must
be great liability to accident, but Thorwald
said:
”No, we do not consider the risk worth
taking into account. Let me illustrate with
a familiar example. Suppose you had just
474
seen a cable tested with a ton’s weight with-
out a strain. Should you fear to take hold of
the cable and lift yourself from the ground
lest it might break and you should fall? The
mechanism of this road is just as sure as
that. The force that is driving us forward is
no longer mysterious. The laws of electric-
ity are well deﬁned, and its mighty power
is under perfect control. Nothing is left to
475
chance, and the result is that there have
been no accidents for many, many years,
and practically speaking there cannot be
any.”
When we ﬁrst entered the coach we no-
ticed that there were no windows, and as
the doors had no glass we wondered why
it was not dark. The light was good broad
daylight, exactly like that which ﬁlls a room
476
when there are good windows, but where
the direct rays of the sun do not enter; and,
as we could see no lamps nor ﬁxtures, we
could not understand how the illumination
could be artiﬁcial. But such it was. We
carried an electric battery with us, and the
lamps were out of sight, and so arranged
that they gave us only reﬂected light. The
system was so perfect that the imitation
477
sunlight was just as good as the real, as
far as we could discover.
”This is the way we light all our inte-
riors,” said Thorwald, ”and of course the
apparatus is so governed that we can have
any amount of illumination we please, little
or much.”
The doctor was about to ask some ques-
tion in relation to this practical improve-
478
ment, when he was stopped by hearing a
little silver-toned bell ring. In an instant
the doors opened, and Thorwald rose and
announced that we had reached the end of
our journey. We could not have been in the
car more than ﬁfteen minutes, and the doc-
tor and I supposed our ride of two hundred
miles had just begun.
”Well, if you travel at this rate,” said the
479
doctor, ”I do not wonder you have obliter-
ated all national boundaries, for the ends
of the world are right at your doors. And
now, Thorwald, I would like to see the great
tube through which we have been carried so
swiftly.”
Thorwald smiled a little and led the way
through another superb waiting- room out
into the open air. Here the doctor looked in
480
all directions, but could see nothing of the
object for which he was searching.
”You have seen all any of us can see,”
said Thorwald.
”We merely step into the comfortable
car, sit a few minutes, step out again, and
go home. In the meantime we have been
carried under ground and under water, across
valleys and through hills, but the way itself,
481
the tube through which the car ﬂies, is en-
tirely hidden from sight. Where it is above
ground, trees and shrubbery screen it from
view, so that it does not mar the landscape.
We think much of this, and should regret
exceedingly if it became necessary for any
such utilitarian object to interfere with our
aesthetic enjoyment of nature.”
Thorwald’s friend now took leave of us,
482
expressing the hope that he would soon see
us again. He had taken some little part in
our conversation, but had left the burden
of it to Thorwald, who was older, and who
was, moreover, our ﬁrst acquaintance.
It seemed singular to the doctor and
me that we had attracted so little atten-
tion among the people whom we had en-
countered since leaving the ship. To give
483
the reason for this, which we afterwards
discovered, is to reveal one of the pleasan-
test peculiarities of the Martian character–
that is, the entire absence of a disagreeable
curiosity. Our dress and appearance and
the rather novel circumstances connected
with our arrival on the planet, which must
quickly have become known, were certainly
calculated to excite their interest, and in
484
a similar situation on the earth there is no
telling what might have happened to us from
a curious mob. But here all was order and
quiet. Everybody went about his own busi-
ness and treated our party with additional
respect, it seemed, because some of us were
strangers. We found out later how anxious
all these people were to learn everything
about us, but they were content to wait till
485
the knowledge should come to them in a
proper way.
Thorwald now selected a light, pretty
carriage, and after a brisk ride through an-
other charming avenue and up a steep hill,
we alighted at the door of a noble mansion
whose majestic proportions were in harmony
with the wide, open plateau upon which
it stood alone. Upon entering, Thorwald
486
was at once aﬀectionately greeted by his
wife, and while he was introducing us as na-
tives of another world his son and daughter
came bounding toward him from an adja-
cent room.
These were quite small children, but in
a few moments Thorwald brought in from
another part of the house a young woman of
about my age, apparently, and introduced
487
her as a neighbor. It needed but a glance
to tell us that she was beautiful as a dream,
and she moved about with that exquisite
grace which comes only from the highest
culture. She spoke to us with such ease and
naturalness that we were at once relieved
from whatever embarrassment the circum-
stances might easily occasion.
”Antonia is our very dear friend,” said
488
Thorwald, ”and, although she hides her cu-
riosity so well, you will ﬁnd her an exceed-
ingly interested listener to your history and
adventures.”
”Yes,” said the charming voice of An-
tonia, ”Thorwald has told me just enough
about you to make me want to know more.
Your moon, which is so much larger than
our little satellites, caused a great sensa-
489
tion when it was seen coming toward us so
rapidly. The situation was well calculated
to cause us anxiety, if we had been subject
to such a feeling, but, as usual with us at
the present day, it has turned out to our ad-
vantage; for it has given us two such worthy
representatives of a neighboring race.”
”I am sure,” I answered, ”that the ad-
vantage is greatly on our side.”
490
I could not say more, for I was conscious
that the doctor was watching closely to see
how I was aﬀected by the presence of this
royal girl. When he saw I was inclined to
be somewhat quiet he felt impelled to say
something, and oﬀered the following com-
promising remark:
”If we had only brought Mona safely
oﬀ the moon with us, you would have had
491
something more worthy of your interest than
we are, and my friend here also would now
be in better spirits.”
Antonia had a question in her eyes but
her perfect breeding kept her from putting
it into words, after the ﬁnal expression of
the doctor’s speech. Of course, I could not
ignore the allusion, and said:
”Mona is a friend of the doctor’s whom
492
I have not the pleasure of knowing. I sup-
pose he thinks her cheerful disposition, of
which I have heard before, would make our
present situation even more enjoyable than
it is. Speaking for myself, however, I think
that would be impossible.”
With that she rose, and, with a pleas-
ant word of adieu to us, told Thorwald she
would come in another day after we were
493
well rested.
It was now approaching night-fall and
dinner was to be speedily announced. The
doctor and I were shown to a suite of dressing-
rooms, and as soon as we were alone he said:
”Do you think Antonia is as handsome
as Mona?”
”If you will show me Mona I shall then
be able to judge. But how did I carry myself
494
on my ﬁrst introduction to a daughter of
Mars? Do you think I am in any danger
of putting her in Margaret’s place in my
heart?”
”Perhaps not,” replied the doctor. ”You
kept command of yourself pretty well; but
I think the secret of that is that you have
not quite forgotten Mona.”
”Excuse my frankness, Doctor, but I must
495
tell you I am getting a little tired of Mona.
I wish I might never hear her name again. If
I can resist the charms of such an exquisite
bundle of perfections as Antonia is, do you
think I am likely to be overcome by a mocking-
bird of your imagination?”
”If you could only hear the voice of that
bird once more,” replied the doctor, ”you
would soon begin to sing another tune. But
496
let us go down if you are ready, and not keep
them waiting.”
We had looked forward with much inter-
est to our ﬁrst meal in one of these sump-
tuous houses, and, moreover, being quite
hungry, we were glad to ﬁnd that we were
just in time to sit down. If we had felt any
fear lest the absence of meat would make
a meager bill of fare, the experience of the
497
next hour relieved us. The dishes were all
strange, but highly palatable, and the fact
that there was nothing that appeared to be
in the least unwholesome did not detract
from the delicious savor which every viand
possessed. The rich variety of courses and
the elegance of the service made it a dinner
long to be remembered, and gave a new zest
to our life on Mars.
498
It had been a long day to us, and we
were allowed to retire at an early hour, be-
ing conducted to adjacent and communicat-
ing rooms. But, though our fatigue was
great, it is not strange that we lay awake
awhile, talking of the wonderful things we
had seen and heard. Speaking of the Mar-
tian method of rapid transit the doctor said:
”Besides its expedition, there is another
499
feature to recommend their way of travel-
ing.”
”What is that?”
”Why, there is no danger of getting a
seat just behind a window ﬁend.”
”There is something in that,” I answered,
”but I am thinking just now of our din-
ner. We must certainly learn how to cook
eggs and vegetables before we return to the
500
earth.”
The character of our conversation, judged
from these scraps, shows that we had no ex-
cuse for remaining awake any longer.
CHAPTER XIII.
A MORNING TALK.
501
Next morning we arose early, but found
the family already up. Thorwald seemed
disposed to lose no time in showing and
telling us everything interesting, and so in-
vited us at once to the top of the house, to
take a view of the country. The sun was
just rising, and its pleasant rays lighted up
a scene of surpassing beauty. We seemed to
be set in the middle of a vast park, whose
502
boundaries extended in all directions as far
as we could see. The landscape presented
the most varied character, wood and water,
hill and plain, and every feature needed to
make a most delightful picture. Not the
least of its charms, and perhaps the great-
est, was the profusion of color, which ﬁlled
the vision and satisﬁed the sense of beauty
with its contrasts and its harmonies. Some
503
of the hills might justly be called moun-
tains, and yet on the rugged sides as well
as on the summit of each were grand man-
sions surrounded by cultivated ﬁelds.
The doctor made some remark about
this latter fact, and Thorwald said:
”These situations, which would be al-
most inaccessible without the aid of elec-
tricity, are now the favorite sites for build-
504
ing. This wonderful power levels all hills in
the ease with which it does its work. No
task is too hard for it and it asks no sym-
pathy, so we may as well ride and carry our
freight up hill, if we prefer it, and build our
houses on the mountain tops. One charac-
teristic of our nature has not changed, and
there is still a great variety of taste, so that
plenty of people choose the lower land to
505
build upon. I see by your faces that you
both admire this panorama and think we
were wise to place our house on such high
ground. We like to have our friends take
this view in the morning, when the world
has been freshened by the night’s rain.”
”Is it not just as beautiful at sunset after
a shower?” I asked.
”Oh,” answered Thorwald, ”I haven’t
506
told you that it never rains in the day-time,
have I?”
”No, indeed, that’s another surprise for
us. But how is it managed?”
”You will remember I told you,” said
Thorwald in reply, ”that it was found that
rain enough fell for all parts of the world if
it could only be rightly distributed. Then
when we had discovered by a long series of
507
experiments how to make the clouds shed
their water at our pleasure, we set about de-
vising a means whereby we could give each
section the right quantity of rain at just the
right time.
”We established a central bureau in each
country and let the people in every city or
district vote and send in their request for
a shower or a long rain ten days in ad-
508
vance. At ﬁrst it required only a majority
vote, but this occasioned no end of trou-
ble, as half the community would often be-
lieve they were suﬀering for want of rain
when the other half wanted fair weather.
Then the rule was changed so as to make a
three-quarters vote necessary, which did not
help matters much, for very often the crops
would be seriously damaged before so large
509
a proportion of the people could be brought
to see the desirability of a rainy day.
”At length the happy thought was con-
ceived of letting it rain over each part of the
country every night, and giving the right
to vote only on the quantity desired. This
keeps everything fresh and has been found
of immense beneﬁt to vegetation. Besides,
it inconveniences no one, in the present state
510
of our society, however it might have been
when the plan was ﬁrst adopted.”
”What of those people,” I asked, ”whose
occupation or pleasure calls them out in the
night?”
”We have no such class,” replied Thor-
wald. ”We have found by long experience
that it is best to follow the indication of
nature, and take the day for labor and the
511
night for rest. This practice and the at-
tention devoted to our diet have been chief
factors in lengthening the span of our lives.
If this line of action is best for one it is best
for all, and, as everybody is doing the best
he can, it follows that there are literally no
people out at night.”
”I suppose you would call me stupid again,”
said I, ”if I should ask if you have any such
512
old-time personages as guardians of the peace.”
”Indeed I should,” answered our friend,
”for you ought to know us better. If you
will excuse a poor witticism, the peace is
old enough on our planet to go without a
guardian.”
As we smiled at this the doctor was en-
couraged to try his hand, but, not feeling
equal to addressing a pleasantry to the usu-
513
ally august Martian, he turned to me and
remarked:
”This would be a pretty poor place for
an umbrella trust, wouldn’t it?”
As we left our place of outlook and made
our way down stairs, Thorwald resumed:
”As I have said before, we have reached
our present happy condition through many
bitter experiences. We read that at one
514
time people had so much work to do and
were so thoughtless as to what was good
for their physical welfare that they began to
rob themselves of their proper rest. Others
found it convenient to follow occupations
which obliged them to work all night and
get what sleep they could in the day-time.
Night was considered about the only time
that could be utilized, also, for the activi-
515
ties of social life.
”This condition lasted a long time, with
the tendency continually toward the prac-
tice of encroaching more and more upon the
hours of rest appointed by nature. It was
then the period of making many laws, and
large and inﬂuential legislative bodies be-
gan to set a bad example to the rest of the
world by holding their sessions mainly in
516
the night. Newspapers thought it necessary
to appear full-ﬂedged at the break of day,
and the railroads made but little distinction
between darkness and daylight in the mat-
ter of carrying people hither and thither.
The change was slow, but it was in the
wrong direction. Darkness was driven out
by more improved methods of lighting, and
houses and streets were brilliant the whole
517
night long; and it ﬁnally became the fashion
in both society and business circles literally
to turn night into day. For a time that re-
mained the universal custom, strange as it
seems to us now, but the practice of sleep-
ing in the day-time never became natural.
This means that the whole world was living
on from year to year without the amount of
rest required to keep the race alive. There
518
could be but one result. A brood of ner-
vous troubles fell upon us; life began to
shorten, and we became aware that a se-
rious crisis was before us. As soon as we
were convinced that we were bringing all
this evil upon ourselves by our disregard of
the laws of nature, there was a change; and
it is well for us that there was still virility
enough left in the race to make a change
519
possible. A gradual reform was instituted
which, overcoming many diﬃculties and de-
lays but with no serious set-backs, brought
us, after long years, to our present happy
way. Of course, our improvement in every
other direction, moral as well as physical,
assisted us all along in this reform. Now,
looking back on our course, and compar-
ing our present with our former state, we
520
are perfectly sure what is best for us, and
he would be a rash man who should inti-
mate that we are not doing right in using
the night for rest.
”But this is getting to be quite a long
talk for so early in the morning. Let us see
if breakfast is not ready.”
This meal proved to be as appetizing
as the ﬁrst, although the dishes were en-
521
tirely diﬀerent; being made up, apparently,
of fruit and cereals.
The doctor and I had been exceedingly
interested in the way the dinner of the evening
before had been served. We did not un-
derstand it, and now we were equally puz-
zled to see the breakfast courses come and
go. No one came in to make any change in
the table, and our hostess seemed to have
522
as little to do with it as the rest of us.
She presided with great dignity, and, as I
watched the changes going on with such
perfect ease and quiet, I could not refrain
from saying:
”If it is proper for me to ask, will you
tell us how this is done, Mrs. —-”
”We do not use those titles now,” she
interrupted. ”Call me Zenith, the name by
523
which I was introduced to you. I suppose
Thorwald has told you that electricity does
nearly all our work. I arrange things in or-
der before the meal begins, and then by
merely touching a button under the table
the apparatus is set in motion which brings
and takes away everything in the manner
you see.”
”It is wonderful,” I exclaimed. ”And if
524
we are to believe all that Thorwald has told
us, I suppose you have no servants for any
department of work.”
”You are not entirely right,” she returned.
”We have excellent servants. This obedient
power, that does our work so willingly, is
our servant, and so is the mechanism with
which our houses are ﬁlled, and through
which this silent force is exerted. Many of
525
our animals are domesticated and trained
to do light services, but as for servants of
our own ﬂesh and blood, no such class ex-
ists. We all share whatever work there is,
and no labor is menial. Whatever I ask oth-
ers to do I am glad to do for them when
occasion oﬀers. Do not suppose we are idle.
There is work for us, but with our abun-
dant strength and continual good health it
526
is never a burden. Then there are the duties
connected with our higher life and educa-
tion, for we are ever seeking to ﬁt ourselves
for a still better existence than this.”
We had now ﬁnished breakfast and were
walking through the house. Zenith was a
beautiful woman, although, from our point
of view, of such generous proportions. She
possessed the perfect form and the vigor
527
and health of all the Martians. She was,
moreover, graceful, modest, and winning.
But Thorwald and the other men that we
had seen possessed these latter qualities also,
and Zenith exhibited the same strength of
mind and the same devotion to lofty aims
as her husband. In their equipment for the
duties of life and in the ability to do valiant
service for their kind they seemed equal.
528
Evidently neither had a monopoly of any
class of advantages, either of mind, body,
or estate.
CHAPTER XIV.
PROCTOR SHOWS US THE EARTH.
We discovered at once that the Mars
529
dwellers understand what genuine hospital-
ity is, for we found ourselves at perfect lib-
erty to do what best pleased us without re-
straint from our hosts. With so much to
tell us of their own high civilization and
with so many questions still to ask about
the earth, there was no haste nor undue
curiosity. Much less was there any attempt
yet by Thorwald to resume the argument
530
about the habitability of other worlds.
But at the same time we were aware that
our friends were at our service, and early in
the afternoon Thorwald asked us if we could
think of anything we should like to see.
”Yes,” I answered, ”I should like to see
the earth.”
”No doubt, my friend, but I don’t see
exactly how I am going to take you there.”
531
”I did not expect that,” said I; ”but, af-
ter all you have hinted about your advance
in astronomical science, I thought you might
give us a pretty good view of the earth with-
out going any nearer to it than we are now.”
”Oh, that’s what you mean, is it? Ex-
cuse me for being so dull. Is it not singular
that I should wait to be asked to show you
the wonders of our telescopes? Zenith, let
532
us all go with them to see their home, about
which we have so often speculated.
”We have many good observatories,” con-
tinued Thorwald, speaking to the doctor
and me, ”some of which are noted for one
line of study and some for another. The
one that has given the most attention to
observing the earth and that has the best
instruments for that work is situated on the
533
other side of our planet.”
”Then, of course,” said I, ”we will choose
one nearer home for our visit.”
”Why so?” asked Thorwald. ”It is al-
ways wise to get the best when you can.”
”Yes, but we do not want you to take
the time and trouble to make a journey
half around your world just because I said
I would like to see the earth.”
534
”Oh, our time is yours, and we will not
make trouble of it; we will call it a plea-
sure trip. We may as well take the chil-
dren, Zenith; they will enjoy it. How soon
can you all be ready?”
”In ﬁve minutes,” answered Zenith.
”Then we had better get oﬀ at once,”
said Thorwald.
And without further words this remark-
535
able family scattered to diﬀerent parts of
the house and in ﬁve minutes were ready
to begin a journey of ﬁve or six thousand
miles, and the only reason they did not start
at once was that the doctor and I were not
quite so expeditious. We were soon on our
way, however, having locked no doors be-
hind us and leaving everything just as if we
were to return in an hour.
536
We took an electric carriage to the sta-
tion, and from there went by the tubular
road to the metropolis. This was a great
city whence there was direct communica-
tion to all the principal centers of popula-
tion on the planet. As we had not been in
any haste in making the changes necessary
to reach this stage of our journey, it was
now late in the day, and I began to wonder
537
how we were to continue the trip without
being out in the night. When I mentioned
my thought to Thorwald, he removed the
diﬃculty in a moment by saying:
”We simply travel west and leave the
night behind us. You know the surface of
Mars, even at the equator, goes east at the
rate of only ﬁve hundred miles an hour, and
as our modern cars take us much faster than
538
that, it is easy for us to keep ahead of the
night by going in the right direction. So in
making long trips we try to travel west.”
”But suppose you want to go east?”
”Then we go west to get east, and we
arrange the speed so as to get to our desti-
nation in the day-time.”
We left our car and found another just
ready to start for the distant city in which
539
our observatory was situated. It was a small
car comparatively, and we had it all to our-
selves. There were all sorts of conveniences
in it, and we composed ourselves for a good
rest. After a ride of several hours we reached
our destination. It was now about noon, so
that we had actually made nearly half a day,
besides the time spent in sleep while riding.
I know some of my friends on the earth, who
540
say the day is too short for them, would
appreciate such an improvement as that if
they could have it.
We passed part of the afternoon in rid-
ing about the city. The same language was
spoken here as was used on Thorwald’s side
of the globe; but, although communication
was so easy, we found enough diﬀerence in
the architecture and in the general appear-
541
ance of the people to make travel interest-
ing.
Toward night we all alighted at the door
of the observatory, and the doctor and I had
the pleasure of making the acquaintance of
a man of Mars who had spent many years in
studying the surface of the earth. It may be
imagined that he was glad to meet us and
to get our answers to many questions which
542
had long perplexed him, some of which he
had never hoped to have solved.
Proctor, for this was the name by which
he was introduced, was one of the oldest
men we had seen, and impressed us as one
possessed of great wisdom. His manner was
so digniﬁed, also, that it seemed quite as
inappropriate to address him without a title
as it was to call our hostess plain Zenith.
543
But when I asked Thorwald aside what I
should call him, he said:
”Call him by his name, just as you do
the rest of us. We have but one name each.”
”I should think that would be confus-
ing,” said I. ”For example, how are you
to be distinguished from any other Thor-
wald?”
”There is no other that I ever heard of.
544
There are names enough to go all around.”
As night came on we were brought face
to face with the great instrument whose
work of observing the earth was known far
and wide.
Proctor was occupied a short time in ad-
justing it, and then asked us if we could rec-
ognize what was in the ﬁeld. I motioned to
the doctor, but as he insisted that I should
545
take the ﬁrst view I put my eye to the glass
with much trepidation. Instead of the mag-
niﬁed disk of the earth, which I expected
to behold, I saw but a small portion of the
surface, and that a familiar stretch of coast
line. I never knew whether Proctor thought
by our accent or by the cut of our clothes
that we were New Englanders, but he had
so pointed the telescope that our ﬁrst sight
546
of the earth showed us dear old Massachusetts
Bay, with its islands and boundaries. I did
not speak till the doctor had looked, and
then we told the others of our pleasant sur-
prise.
Proctor made another adjustment, say-
ing he would bring the globe still nearer
to us, and we looked and saw a patch of
beautiful green country. It appeared to be
547
but a few miles away, and we thought we
ought to distinguish large objects. But the
appearance was deceptive in this respect,
and Proctor told us they had not been able
to determine deﬁnitely whether the earth
was inhabited. They could see important
changes going on from time to time; they
believed they could tell cultivated from wild
land; certain peculiar spots they called large
548
cities; and there were many such indications
of inhabitants. But they had not yet beheld
man nor his unquestioned footsteps. As to
their belief on the subject, they had the
strongest faith that the earth was peopled
by an intelligent race, and Proctor added
that he rejoiced to see that faith so hap-
pily justiﬁed by our presence. To which the
doctor pleasantly replied that he should be
549
sorry to have him judge of the intelligence
of the race at large from two such inferior
specimens.
One question which Proctor asked was,
whether we had ever made any attempt to
communicate with the other planets. We
told him we had not, but that if we should
ever try such a thing it would probably be
with Mars; but that it would be useless to
550
think of it with our present astronomical
attainments, for if we should succeed in at-
tracting the attention of another world we
would not know it, because we could not
see the answer.
Proctor said they had sometimes seen
moving masses which were not clouds, but
which they took for smoke and were not
sure but they might be intended for signals.
551
We replied that if it were smoke that they
saw it was probably caused by forest ﬁres,
but if we ever reached the earth again we
would organize a company and try to make
some electric signals which they could see.
552
CHAPTER XV.
A NIGHT ADVENTURE
It was late when the conversation closed,
and Proctor said we were to spend the night
with him of course, and in the morning he
would take pleasure in introducing to us the
other members of his household.
The residence buildings, beautiful and
553
commodious structures, adjoined the obser-
vatory, and to each of us was given a sepa-
rate apartment. After Proctor had left us,
Thorwald came into my room a moment
and I said to him:
”Proctor is a friend of yours, is he not?”
”Certainly,” answered Thorwald, ”what
could he be but a friend? But then I never
saw him before today.”
554
”Is it possible? Are strangers always
treated so hospitably?”
”I see nothing unusual in his treatment
of us. We are always at perfect liberty to
stay where ever night overtakes us, and it
makes no diﬀerence with the quality of the
hospitality whether the guests are acquain-
tances or not.”
The memory of that night will remain
555
with me many years. Before falling asleep I
let my mind dwell on the singular circum-
stances in which we were placed and the
strange manner of our leaving the earth. I
had never experienced anything that seemed
more real, and yet I could not make it ap-
pear quite reasonable that we were in truth
living on the planet Mars. All I could say
was that it was an instance where the facts
556
were against the theory, and I knew that in
such cases it was always safest to believe in
the facts. I could distinctly remember each
step of our journey, and there could be no
mistake about our present understanding.
What settled the question more ﬁrmly than
ever was this thought: If we were not on
Mars, where were we? We must be some-
where.
557
By the time I had disposed of all my
doubts I was becoming drowsy, and then I
began to think of the doctor and his un-
fortunate condition of mind. This malady
would doubtless increase and I should have
to look out for him, and at the same time
ﬁll the arduous position of the only sound
representative of our race in Mars. I re-
solved to try once more to make my com-
558
panion see how ridiculous his strange fancy
was and realize the danger of clinging to it.
With this thought my brain lost coher-
ence, and I passed over the invisible bound-
ary into dreamland. It was a beautiful evening
in summer. I was at home among my friends
and we were sitting in the open air. The
doctor was there, taking his turn with me
in telling the story of our adventures. This
559
went on till our listeners were tired out, and
then one of the company gave a little variety
to the occasion by singing a capital song.
Here the scene changed to the country.
It was morning in the woods. The trees
wore their spring foliage, bright ﬂowers spread
their beauty and fragrance around us, and
the air was ﬁlled with the music of birds.
The sweet notes of these songsters were by
560
far the most vivid part of the dream. Now
loud, now soft, the unbroken melody ab-
sorbed our attention and made it diﬃcult
for us to understand how our situation again
gradually changed, until the air became pierc-
ingly cold, the cruel wind beat upon us furi-
ously, and the violent elements seemed bent
upon our destruction.
The doctor and I were alone, and the
561
surroundings bore a strange resemblance to
the inhospitable surface of the moon. But
what are those sweet sounds still ringing in
our ears? Sure no birds could live in such
a wild place. No, it is not a bird’s song.
It is more like a human voice. I thought I
had never before heard music so pure and
rich. But wait–had I not heard something
like it once before? There was a mystery
562
about it that enhanced its sweetness. Now I
was really thinking, for before I knew how it
happened I found myself wide awake. The
dream was over, but, oh! wonderful dream,
the best of it remained. My sense of hear-
ing, always acute, had waked long before
and left my other faculties to slumber on
and dream out the unreal accompaniments
of a real voice. For now, with my eyes open
563
and my mind released from sleep, I still
heard that marvelous, half- familiar song.
Could I be deceived? I determined to
know beyond a doubt that I was awake.
I rose and, throwing on a dressing gown,
turned up the light and walked about the
room. I looked in the mirror to see if my
eyes were open, and then ate a little fruit
from a tempting dish that stood on the ta-
564
ble. In one corner of the room was an el-
egant writing desk. I opened it, found its
appointments complete, drew up a comfort-
able chair, and, choosing pen and paper,
determined to record my impressions for fu-
ture perusal, if by any means my memory
should fail me. This is what I wrote:
”I, the undersigned, am in my private
room in the house of Proctor, the astronomer,
565
province of —-, planet Mars. It is about the
middle of the night, precise date unknown.
I am wide awake, in my usual health, ap-
petite good, heart a little ﬂuttering but tem-
perature and pulse normal. I have been
awakened from sleep by strains of distant
music, which mingled with my dreams but
refused to be silenced when the rest of the
dreams melted away. Now, while I am writ-
566
ing, the delicious melody ﬁlls my ears. I
never before heard so sweet a voice, unless,
indeed, I have heard the same voice before.
In regard to this I can form no present opin-
ion. I must take another time to consider it.
Now I cannot think, I am so engrossed in lis-
tening to the singer’s entrancing notes. The
song is so full of light and cheer and sends
such beautiful thoughts trooping through
567
my brain that I wish it may go on forever.”
I signed my name to this with a ﬁrm
hand, and then, as I leaned back in my chair
to close my eyes and drink in more deeply
still this rare enjoyment, darkness seemed
to fall suddenly upon my spirit. The voice
ceased, and in a moment the last sweet echoes
had died away.
I crept into bed as speedily as possible,
568
to try to forget my sadness in sleep. But
oblivion would not be forced, and so I took
what comfort I could in thinking of that in-
terrupted song, and in trying to feel over
again in memory that pleasure which my
ﬂeshly ears no longer gave me. I could still
recognize a distinct tinge of familiarity in
the notes, but when I came to the question
of locating the singer I was utterly without
569
a clew. I knew well enough that there was
no earthly voice which could enter into the
comparison, and so I need waste no time in
going over that part of my life. But I had
heard no singing of any kind in Mars before
this night. How was it possible that I could
have experienced that delightful sensation
before and not be able to ﬁx the place or
time? It was a puzzling question, but I re-
570
fused to give it up I knew the song, and
the memory of it warmed my heart with
each recurring ﬂash, but the singer I did
not know.
At length I fell asleep, and woke to ﬁnd
the sun of Mars shining pleasantly upon my
bed. I recalled at once the experience of the
night and conﬁrmed my memory by ﬁnding
on the desk the paper I had written, and
571
still there was enough suspicion in my mind
of the reality of the whole thing to make me
anxious to know if the doctor had heard
what had so impressed me. But on going
to ﬁnd him I discovered that he had left his
room, and so it happened that we did not
meet till the family came together in the
morning reception room, in preparation for
breakfast. Here Proctor presented us to his
572
wife, Fronda, and his daughters, two stately
girls, whom he did not name. Thorwald
and Zenith kindly helped the doctor and me
to answer the many questions which these
new friends were so eager to ask, so that, as
breakfast proceeded, all became engaged in
the conversation. My own mind, however,
was somewhat preoccupied. I thought per-
haps Thorwald might be in haste to depart
573
for home, and I was determined not to let
the company separate till I had made an at-
tempt to discover who my midnight singer
was. So, when there came a convenient lull
in the talk, I made bold to say:
”Can anyone present tell me who it was
that woke me in the night ’with concord of
sweet sounds’ ?”
A general smile passed around the table
574
at this question, while Fronda looked at me
and said pleasantly,
”It must have been Avis. She is very
fond of singing and considers all hours her
own. I hope it did not disturb your slum-
bers.”
”It was no disturbance, I assure you.
But is Avis present? I should like to thank
her for the great pleasure she gave me.”
575
”No,” replied Fronda, ”she took an early
breakfast and started out for a long walk.”
”Then I may as well tell you all about
it,” I said.
And I related my dream and then read
to them all the paper I had written. Every-
one listened with the greatest eagerness and
showed more interest, I thought, than the
circumstances as I had related them called
576
for, but I afterwards learned that they had
excellent reasons for it.
When breakfast was over I was glad to
ﬁnd that Thorwald seemed to be in no haste
to go home. I began to feel an intense long-
ing to see Avis, and I had planned, if Thor-
wald should insist on leaving too soon, to
propose to Proctor that I would stay a few
days and assist him in the observatory.
577
The doctor and I soon found an oppor-
tunity to speak together privately, and he
began:
”So the voice of Avis was a little familiar
to you?”
”Yes,” I replied, ”but I am not able to
tell from what niche in memory’s hall it
comes.”
”Does it recall anything you heard or
578
saw on the moon?”
”That dreadful place? No, indeed,” I
replied. ”Are you going to bring up Mona
again?” ”You asked me never to mention
that name again, and now you have spoken
it.”
”Well,” I asked, ”will you forgive me for
that foolish request if I will let you talk to
me about her now?”
579
”I am not anxious to talk about her,”
the doctor answered, ”especially as I know
the topic is not a pleasant one to you.”
Without noticing this last remark, I asked
abruptly:
”Was Mona a good singer?”
”Fair.”
”As good as Avis?”
”I think so, though I am not a critic.”
580
”Did I understand you to say she was
handsome?”
”Beautiful.”
”And I fell in love with her?”
”You had all the symptoms. But why do
you insist on talking on such a disagreeable
subject? Come, let’s go and ﬁnd Proctor.”
”Wait. One question more. Have you
seen Avis?”
581
”Yes.”
”Who is she?”
”I believe she is a friend of the family
merely.”
”Does she live here?”
”She is staying here for the present.”
”Is she beautiful, too?”
”I shall leave you to be your own judge
of that when you see her. Now, not another
582
question.”
”Well,” I said, as we started to ﬁnd some
of the others, ”if the Mona of your imagi-
nation gives you as much pleasure as Avis
has given me before I have seen her, I do
not wonder that you cherish her memory.”
This conversation left me still more anx-
ious to see Avis, and I looked for her re-
turn every moment, but the morning passed
583
and ﬁnally the day wore to its close without
bringing us together. I did not like to make
my strong desire known by asking after her,
and, besides, I began to have a slight suspi-
cion that there was some design in keeping
us from meeting.
When it was time to retire that night I
took the doctor to my room, and I think
it was a surprise to both of us when we
584
fell to talking about Mona again. At my
request the doctor related at considerable
length our experience on the moon, as he
remembered it, and set Mona out in most
attractive style. I let him go on, without
laughing at him as I had formerly done,
and the longer he talked the more serious
and thoughtful I became. As he told the
details of our daily life, recalling many of
585
Mona’s words and actions, a new thought
ﬂashed through my mind–the thought that
possibly the doctor was right after all. At
that instant, when my interest was most in-
tense, once more the distant echoes of that
happy song fell upon my ear.
That was the magic inﬂuence needed for
my restoration. At once, and all at once,
down fell the walls that had so unhappily
586
obscured my mental vision, and left my mem-
ory clear as day. I jumped from my seat,
seized the doctor’s hand, and exclaimed:
”I see it all now, old fellow. You were
right and I was the crazy one.”
”Good, I rejoice with you.”
With that voice coming nearer and pour-
ing its melody upon us, we could not say
more at the time. I threw myself into a
587
chair, let my head fall back, and closed my
eyes to enjoy it. The doctor, feeling it to
be better to let me think it out by myself,
stole away and left me alone.
Alone, but not lonesome, for was not
Mona with me? I could see her every look
and motion, and experienced with a great
throb of the heart that my love had only
strengthened with my period of forgetful-
588
ness. I remembered her last words, that
very likely we would never see her again.
But why should not she be saved as easily
as we were? What if she were even now
aﬂoat in the ocean? But perhaps some one
had rescued her. Could she be in Mars and
singing for other ears than mine? Singing!
Why, who is singing now, right here in this
very house? Can it be possible? How stupid
589
I have been. Perhaps I can see her now.
I jumped up and rushed from the room,
but was no sooner outside my door than
the voice began to die again, and in a mo-
ment the last notes had ﬂoated away. I
could not determine from which direction
the song had come and had no clew to guide
me toward the singer. It was very late and
all the house was quiet. Unable to pur-
590
sue my quest, I reentered my room, but it
was hours before I could compose my mind
suﬃciently to sleep. The possible joy that
awaited me in the morning, the dreadful
fear that I should be disappointed, the vi-
olent beating of my heart at every thought
of Mona, and my anxiety lest she might
even now be exposed to danger somewhere,
all combined to keep me excited and rest-
591
less the whole night long. As I lay toss-
ing and thinking, my most serious doubt
was occasioned by the reﬂection that peo-
ple of such exalted morals would not deceive
me by declaring that this singer’s name was
Avis if it were not true. But then I thought
further that the doctor had given Mona the
name by which we knew her, and that Fronda
would have just as much right to give her a
592
new name. Perhaps her real name after all
was Avis.
When the welcome morning came I found
the doctor and gave him a hearty grasp to
show him that there had been no lapse in
my mental condition, but I asked him to say
nothing to Thorwald just at present about
my recovery. Then we hurried down to the
reception room and, early as it was, found
593
most of the household already there. Af-
ter looking eagerly around and seeing only
those whom I had previously met, I inquired,
with as little apparent concern as possible:
”Hasn’t Avis appeared? I thought she
was an early riser.”
To which Fronda quickly replied:
”Oh, Avis was up half an hour ago, and
asked me to excuse her to the company,
594
saying she was going to spend the morning
with a friend she met yesterday.”
This was a hard blow for me, and it was
with diﬃculty that I restrained my impa-
tience, but I was a little consoled with the
idea that the morning only was to be con-
sumed by this visit, and that we might look
for a return by noon.
After breakfast, when Proctor had gone
595
to the observatory and Fronda and her daugh-
ters were showing Zenith about the house,
the doctor begged Thorwald to resume the
talk begun on board the ship, which had
been interrupted by the discovery of land.
As Thorwald expressed a willingness to com-
ply, the doctor continued:
”You were trying to convince me of the
probability of life in other worlds besides
596
the earth and Mars, and in your attempt to
show a likeness between the earth and other
parts of the universe, you were speaking on
the interesting subject of meteorites.”
”I remember,” answered Thorwald, ”I
was just asking you what theory you of the
earth hold on that important topic.”
597
CHAPTER XVI
AN UNLIKELY STORY
”If the doctor,” I said, ”will pardon me,
I will say, in relation to the origin of me-
teorites, that our scientiﬁc men have held
from time to time many diﬀerent theories.
Some have believed that they are aggrega-
tions of metallic vapors which, meeting in
598
the atmosphere, solidify there and fall, just
as watery vapors solidify and come down
in the form of hailstones. Others have held
that they are thrown out from the center of
the earth by volcanic action; and others still
that they all came from the moon when her
volcanoes were active. These latter theories
imply that the meteorites in immense quan-
tities are revolving around the earth, and
599
that occasionally they become entangled in
her atmosphere and fall to the surface.
”And now, Thorwald, I am tempted to
repay all your great kindness to us with an
act of ingratitude, nothing less than the re-
lation of a story.”
This rather foolhardy speech of mine made
the doctor wince, and I am not sure but he
began to fear that my mind was weakening
600
in a new direction. But I had my own ex-
cuse for my action, which I felt that I could
explain to him at some future time. The
fact is, I was so disturbed in my mind about
Mona and was anticipating so much from
meeting the so called Avis, that I thought I
could never sit still all the morning and lis-
ten to a dry scientiﬁc discussion. It seemed
to me that I could stand it better if I could
601
do part of the talking myself, and so I took
advantage of the subject before us to pro-
pose relating an extravagant tale that I once
had heard.
In contrast with the doctor’s frowns, Thor-
wald showed a lively appreciation and in-
sisted that I should be heard.
”Not another word from me,” he said,
”till we have had the story.”
602
With such encouragement, it was easy
for me to proceed.
”I fear you will be disappointed,” I said,
”for what I have rashly called a story is only
a fancy founded on the idea that the mete-
orites were at some time shot out of the vol-
canoes of the moon. I had it from a friend of
mine, whose mind is evidently more open to
the notion of life in other worlds than is that
603
of my companion here. As the story was
written long before the moon came down
to visit the people of the earth in their own
home, the writer did not have the advantage
of the discoveries made by the doctor and
myself, and it is well for me that the doc-
tor’s friend, Mona, is not here to disprove
any of my statements.
”On account of the smaller volume of
604
the moon, the attraction of gravitation on
its surface is only one-quarter that of the
earth, and it is estimated that, if a projec-
tile were hurled from the moon with two or
three times the velocity of a cannon ball, it
would pass entirely beyond her attraction
and be drawn to the earth, reaching it at
the rate of some seven miles a second.
”Now we all know–this is the way the
605
story runs–that the moon was once inhab-
ited by a highly intelligent race. They tell
us it is a cold, dead world now, not at all
ﬁt for inhabitants. But that is because its
day is passed. Being so much smaller than
the earth it cooled oﬀ quicker, and its life-
bearing period long since found its end. Men
have often speculated on the idea that our
race will one day fail and the time come
606
when the last generation shall pass away
and leave the earth a bare and ugly thing, to
continue yet longer its lonely, weary journey
around a failing sun. That day the moon
has seen. That direful fate the race of moon
men have experienced. Some poor being,
the last of his kind, was left sole monarch
of a dying world, and with the moon all
before him where to choose, chose rather to
607
die with the rest and leave his world to cold
and darkness.
”From our own experience we do not
know how high a state of civilization can be
reached by giving a race all the time that
is needed. But we know that before the in-
habitants of the moon passed oﬀ the stage
they had attained to the highest possible
degree of intelligence. They began exis-
608
tence at a very low plane, developed gradu-
ally through long periods of time–there has
never been any haste in these matters–and
when they had reached their maturity as a
race of intellectual and moral beings, prim-
itive man was just beginning on the vast
undertaking of subduing the earth, a task
not yet accomplished.
”The incident I propose to relate oc-
609
curred in antediluvian times, when there
were giants in the earth who lived a thou-
sand years. Then matter reigned, not mind.
It was the age of brawn. Everything mate-
rial existed on a gigantic scale, and man’s
architectural works, rude in design but well
adapted for shelter and protection, were pro-
portioned to his own stature and rivaled the
everlasting hills in size and solidity. And
610
they needed something substantial for pro-
tection, for war was their business and their
pass time. They lived for nothing but to
ﬁght. It was brother against brother, neigh-
bor against neighbor, tribe against tribe;
and the man who could not ﬁght, and ﬁght
hard, had no excuse for living. War was
not an art, but a natural outburst of bru-
tal instincts. A giant glories in his strength
611
and cultivates it as naturally as a bird its
song. But it is pleasant to consider the
fact that as man’s mental and moral qual-
ities have developed his body has become
smaller. As the necessity for that immense
physical strength gradually passed away, na-
ture, abhorring such unnecessary waste of
material, applied to us her inexorable laws
whereby a thing or a state of things no
612
longer useful slowly fades away, and our
bodies accommodated themselves to new con-
ditions.
”But in those early times men needed
great physical strength and long life to bring
the world into subjection, and until that
was done they could give little attention
to the cultivation of the ﬁner qualities of
their incipient manhood. They were hand-
613
icapped by the fact that the lower animals
had had the earth to themselves a few mil-
lion years, more or less, and no puny race
could ever have driven them to the wall.
”At length, when the conﬂict was well
nigh over, with victory in sight, men had
abandoned the struggle and were using all
their ﬁerce strength in ﬁghting each other.
This had been going on so long and with
614
such deadly results that it seemed as if the
race must be exterminated unless some su-
perior power could step in from the outside
and prevent it.
”We can easily understand that there
was no such thing as science then. Men
considered the sun, for example, only as a
very useful thing which brought them light
with which they could see their foe, and the
615
moon as a mysterious object sent to make
the night a little less dark. Sun and moon
and shining stars were all set in the sky
for them, and went through their wonderful
and complicated movements solely for their
amusement.
”But what was the real condition of things
on the moon at that time? Why, there was
a race of people there of such intelligence
616
and scientiﬁc attainments that they were
seeing plainly enough everything that was
taking place on the earth. This will not
appear very strange when we consider our
remarkable success in scanning the surface
of the moon at the present day, and remem-
ber that the inhabitants of the moon were
then nearing the close of their history, and
so at the height of their civilization.
617
”Yes, they had watched the coming of
man upon the stage with the deepest interest–
with a neighborly interest, in fact–seeing in
him the promise of a companion race and
one worthy of the magniﬁcent globe which
they could see was so much larger than their
own. Their powerful instruments enabled
them to see objects on the earth as dis-
tinctly as we now see through our telescopes
618
the features of a landscape a few miles dis-
tant.
”Keeping thus so close an acquaintance
with man and all his works, they rejoiced
at every success he achieved over the lower
forms of life, and grieved at all his fail-
ures. Especially were they pained when he
tired of the conﬂict with his natural foe,
and began to battle with his own kind. As
619
this inhuman strife continued, the folly and
wickedness of it roused to the fullest ex-
tent the interest and sympathy of the moon-
dwellers, and they began to ask each other
what they could do to put a stop to it.
They themselves had long since given up
war and had even outgrown all individual
quarrels, and they could not endure with
patience what was then taking place right
620
under their eyes. But they found it easier
to declaim against the evil than to suggest
any practical method of stopping it. Al-
though so near them in one sense, to the
other senses the ﬁeld of conﬂict was some
two hundred and forty thousand miles away.
”However, of what value is a high state
of civilization if it cannot help a neighbor-
ing world in such an emergency as this? If
621
they could only communicate in some way
with men they could soon make them un-
derstand that it would be better for them
to cease their ﬁghting and ﬁnish their le-
gitimate work of subduing the lower forms
of creation. But how to open communica-
tion! The problem long remained unsolved,
the condition of things on the earth in the
meantime growing worse and worse. At last
622
it was suggested that a shot might be ﬁred
which would reach the earth. This was a
bold suggestion, but it was well known that
they had explosives powerful enough to carry
a projectile beyond the moon’s attraction,
and no one could give any good reason why
such a projectile, being entirely free of the
moon, should not reach the earth under the
power of gravitation. It was determined to
623
try the experiment, and after due prepa-
ration, which was comparatively easy with
their facilities, an enormous shot was hurled
forth. It was large enough to be seen by the
aid of their powerful telescopes as it sped
on its way, and it was with intense interest
that they saw it enter the earth’s attraction
and ﬁnally strike the surface of that globe.
Now that so much had been accomplished,
624
they saw immense possibilities before them.
What they now wanted to do was to use
their discovery to make men give up their
ﬁghting and turn to the arts of peace.
”How could they do this? Some pro-
posed that they should make hollow shot,
ﬁll them with Bibles and other books, and
bombard the earth with good precepts till
men should learn and be tamed. But from
625
their close observation of mankind the moon-
dwellers knew they were too uncivilized to
get any good from books, and that they cer-
tainly could not learn without a teacher.
Hence arose the suggestion that missionar-
ies be sent in place of books. As soon as
this idea was broached thousands of volun-
teers oﬀered themselves, and the plan would
certainly have been attempted if there had
626
been the slightest possibility that one could
live to reach the earth.
”The next proposal came from the med-
ical profession. Long before this time, when
the inhabitants of the moon were sometimes
governed by their passions and before the
day of peace and good will had fully ar-
rived, it had been discovered that what was
known as the pugnacious instinct was only
627
a disease, bad blood in fact as well as in
name, and a remedy had been found for it.
This was nothing less than the bi-chloride of
comet. Small comets, such as we call mete-
orites, were picked up on the surface of the
moon and put to this practical use. This
medicine, administered as an hypodermic
injection, produced wonderful eﬀects, the
patient, although aﬄicted with the most
628
quarrelsome disposition, becoming as mild
and harmless as a lamb. However warlike
one might be, a few days’ treatment would
take the ﬁghting spirit out of him so com-
pletely that the mere doubling up his ﬁsts
and placing them in front of his face would
make him feel ill. Peace societies got hold
of the remedy and tried it on the soldiers of
the standing armies with such success that
629
war had to be abandoned because the men
would not ﬁght.
”And now the old recipe was brought
out, a large quantity of the medicine man-
ufactured, and bombs made and ﬁlled with
it, each one containing full directions for its
use written in Volapiik. These were ﬁred to
the earth, and, strange to say, the simple
language was soon learned, and the moon-
630
dwellers had the satisfaction of seeing men
rapidly metamorphosed into a peaceable,
friendly race. Thus the moon directly in-
ﬂuenced and governed aﬀairs on the earth.
Looked at from that distance it seems to
have been the most remarkable case of the
tail wagging the dog that the earth had ever
seen.
”But we may as well relate the sequel.
631
The eﬀect of the treatment lasted only a
few hundred years, and as it was the moon’s
policy never to repeat a cure, men in time
became as bad as ever again, and so at last
the ﬂood had to come and wipe them oﬀ
the face of the earth.”
632
CHAPTER XVII
THE DOCTOR IS CONVINCED
As I ﬁnished the doctor looked some-
what bored, but Thorwald was kind enough
to thank me, and then, at our earnest so-
licitation, he resumed his argument.
”You have told me,” he said, ”of some of
your earlier beliefs about the origin of mete-
633
orites. Have you any more modern views?”
To this the doctor replied: ”If my friend
here has really ﬁnished talking for a while
I will say, Thorwald, that the theories al-
ready spoken of seem to be disproved by the
discovery that these stones enter the earth’s
atmosphere with a planetary velocity. A
body falling from an inﬁnite distance–that
is, impelled only by the attraction of gravitation–
634
would strike the earth with a velocity of
only six or seven miles a second, while the
meteorites come at the rate of twenty to
thirty miles a second, the earth’s rate of
revolution being nineteen miles in the same
time. It is found that a necessary conse-
quence of these velocities is that the mete-
ors move about the sun, and not the earth,
as the controlling body. Our latest study
635
points to the conclusion that they are of
cometary origin, and, as comets have been
known to divide, some scientists believe the
meteorites are fragments of exploded comets.
At any rate, they are found in the company
of these mysterious bodies, and appear to
have similarly eccentric orbits.”
”Your studies are leading you in the right
direction,” said Thorwald. ”The meteorites
636
do indeed come from the regions of space,
and if they have any story to tell it is a story
of those distant parts of the universe about
which any testimony is valuable. Let us
look again at the fragment we are supposed
to hold in our hand. Can we tell of what
it is composed, or is its substance some-
thing entirely new? I am sure you must
have analyzed it down to its minutest par-
637
ticle, and if so you have found it contains
nothing foreign to the earth. There is not
a single element in the meteorite that does
not exist also in the crust of the earth. Tell
me, Doctor, how many elements have you
discovered in them?”
”Nearly thirty,” answered the doctor. ”And
one interesting fact is, that the three ele-
ments most common in the earth–iron, sili-
638
con, and oxygen– are also found most widely
distributed among the meteorites.”
”That is an exceedingly signiﬁcant fact,”
said Thorwald; ”and now do you not see
how strongly the meteorites conﬁrm the story
of the spectrum, and how everything tells
us the universe is one in its physical struc-
ture? By these two widely diﬀerent sources
of information you ﬁnd that beyond doubt
639
other heavenly bodies are made of like ma-
terials with the earth. Is it not time now to
give your imagination just a moment’s play
and look upon some of those distant orbs
as the probable abode of life?”
”There I cannot follow you,” responded
the doctor. ”I am wanting in imagination;
probably born so, as some people are born
without an ear for music. Let us stick to
640
facts. Among the recent discoveries in the
ﬁeld of which we have been talking was the
ﬁnding of some small diamonds in a me-
teoric mass. Upon this some enthusiastic
writer, whose imaginative soul would be your
delight, Thorwald, built this argument: ’Di-
amonds being pure carbon, their existence
necessitates a previous vegetable growth. Hence
vegetable life in other worlds is proven, and
641
if vegetable life, it is fair to presume the ex-
istence of animal life also. Of course, then,
there must be intelligent life, and therefore
the stars, or the planets that revolve around
the stars, are all ﬁlled with men.’ This I call
not reasoning, but guessing.”
”And still,” quickly responded Thorwald,
”the discovery of diamonds in meteorites
was a valuable link in the chain of evidence
642
which you are putting together. Keep on
with your investigations. Some time posi-
tive knowledge will come to you as it has
come to us. But let me appeal once more
to your reason. At an earlier stage of de-
velopment your race no doubt believed the
earth was the center of the universe, around
which all the heavenly bodies swept in mag-
niﬁcent circles. You have learned that the
643
earth itself, which was formerly thought to
be so important an object, is only one of
those heavenly bodies ﬂying through space.
You ﬁnd the earth resembles its nearest com-
panions in being subject to the same laws
of motion which govern them, but you have
yet to learn that they resemble the earth in
the main purpose of their creation. You go
into the forest and see thousands of trees.
644
You can ﬁnd no two alike, and yet all are
alike in every material respect. Even the
myriads of leaves are all diﬀerent, and yet
all alike. So why may not the millions of
stars that ﬁll the sky be like our own sun
and like each other, diﬀering in such imma-
terial things as size and brilliancy, color and
constitution, but alike in the chief object of
their being, the giving of light and heat, as
645
vivifying forces to dark bodies surrounding
them? And why may not these planets re-
semble the earth in being, at some stage of
their existence, the theater of God’s great
designs?
”Let me try to excite your imagination
in another way, Doctor. Suppose you should
by and by awake and ﬁnd this visit to Mars
only a dream, and then suppose it should
646
be revealed to you in some superhuman way
that man was indeed the only race of in-
telligent beings in the whole universe; that
the other planets and all the stars were of
no real use; that not one world from that
vast region of the milky way and far dis-
tant nebulae would ever send forth a note of
praise to its Creator, and that the tiny earth
was, after all, the center and sum of the
647
universe–tell me, would you not feel lone-
some?”
”When you put it in that way, Thor-
wald,” replied the doctor, ”I begin to see
how unreasonable my position must appear
to you. But, however pleasant the idea, I do
not see how I can believe that other worlds
are inhabited without more evidence than
we now possess. This is speaking, of course,
648
without the knowledge we have gained since
coming here. But I do not mind saying that
your talk has made me wish I could believe
it.”
I was glad for several reasons that the
doctor acknowledged as much as this. First,
for Thorwald’s sake; for I had been thinking
the doctor’s obduracy was proving a poor
reward for our friend’s great kindness to us.
649
I rejoiced, too, that my companion was be-
ginning to show our new acquaintance that,
although he had little imagination, he was
possessed of a good heart. And, ﬁnally, I
was myself so much in sympathy with Thor-
wald’s views that I was glad to see his ar-
guments begin to make some impression on
the doctor’s mind.
But now it seemed to me that Thorwald
650
had much to tell us from his own experi-
ence. He had talked so far on this subject
from the standpoint of our earthly knowl-
edge, but had hinted more than once that
the inhabitants of Mars had more positive
evidence than we had ever dreamed could
be possible. So I said:
”Your arguments have been very accept-
able to me, Thorwald, but can you not strengthen
651
even my faith by speaking now from the re-
sults of your own more advanced studies?
We must base our belief in the existence
of life outside the earth on mere probabil-
ities, which, however strong, lead only to
theory and leave us still in doubt. Have
you any certain knowledge on the subject,
or, I might say, had you any before we came
to see you?”
652
”Oh, yes,” replied Thorwald, ”we have
long had evidence almost as positive as your
presence here, fresh from one of our sister
planets. It will give me great pleasure to tell
you of some of our marvelous achievements
in astronomy. The doctor says he would
like to believe in the habitability of other
worlds; he must believe in it before I am
through if he has any faith in me.
653
”I would like to say, to begin with, that
whatever we have accomplished in this sci-
ence you on the earth can accomplish. I
know enough by comparing your develop-
ment with our own to feel sure that our
present condition foreshadows yours, and
that all the knowledge we possess in var-
ious directions will come in time to you.
Let nothing discourage you in your quest for
654
knowledge. If you seem to have arrived at
the limit of possibilities in the telescope, for
example, have patience. Diﬃculties which
you think insurmountable, time will remove,
and you will be able to penetrate more and
more into the mysteries of the universe.
”Our telescopes have gradually increased
in power until we have been able to accom-
plish things that you will no doubt think
655
truly marvelous. But, before you call any
achievement in this science impossible, just
look back and compare the ignorance of the
early inhabitants of the earth with your present
knowledge; and do not be so proud of the
wisdom already attained that you cannot
also look forward to an enlarged compre-
hension of things you now call mysteries,
and to a much closer acquaintance with the
656
works of God.
”To our increasing vision the heavens
have continued to unfold their wonders. We
have penetrated far into the depths of space
only to marvel, at each new revelation, at
the power and wisdom of the Creator. The
number of stars discovered to our view would
be incredible to you, and yet it will be in-
teresting to you to learn that we can still
657
place no bounds to creation. We have, it
is true, found the limits of what we call
our universe and have mapped out all its
boundaries. When this had been done we
tried to pierce the surrounding darkness,
but for a long time, in spite of our belief
that we could not yet see the end, all be-
yond seemed a void. Recently, however, our
faith has been rewarded, for we can now see
658
other universes, buried in far space but re-
vealed dimly to the higher powers of our
telescopes.
”But you are doubtless eager to hear of
some more deﬁnite knowledge gained from
this wide domain. Well, we have deter-
mined the distances, size, and motions of
many of the stars, resolved star clusters and
nebulae, solved the mystery of the double
659
and variable stars, and, what is of more
consequence than all these things, we have
in many instances discovered the secondary
bodies themselves, revolving around a cen-
tral sun. We now know, what we so long
suspected, that the rolling stars are suns
like our own, giving light and heat to at-
tending worlds. With this knowledge, can
you wonder, Doctor, that we acquired the
660
belief that these worlds, resembling so much
the planets of our own system, are ﬁt homes
for intelligent beings?”
”I cannot see,” replied the doctor, ”that
such a belief necessarily follows your discov-
ery, which, I must own, was an exceedingly
valuable one. I can readily believe that
each star that shines in our sky is a sun
surrounded by dependent bodies so dark as
661
to be invisible through our terrestrial tele-
scopes, but still I presume even your instru-
ments are not powerful enough to ﬁnd any
inhabitants on those distant worlds?”
”No,” replied Thorwald, ”but for what
other conceivable purpose were these bodies
created?”
”I frankly acknowledge that I am not
able to answer that question,” said the doc-
662
tor. ”If you have many more wonderful dis-
coveries to relate I shall soon have to own
myself convinced.”
”I am trying to convince your reason,”
resumed Thorwald, ”without the aid of pos-
itive evidence, but I may as well proceed
now to show you what further knowledge
we have gained.
”The nearer planets of our own solar
663
system have been naturally the objects of
our close scrutiny. As our telescopes in-
creased in power we diligently studied the
surface of these globes, searching for signs
of life. We mapped out their features, noted
the various phenomena of season and cli-
mate, and discovered many ways in which
they seemed to be like our world. But for a
long time we found no direct evidence that
664
they were inhabited.
”At length, however, one ardent philoso-
pher, full of hope, as we all were, that we
had neighbors on some of these globes, brought
out the idea that if these neighbors were as
far advanced in astronomical science as we
were, there ought to be some means of com-
munication between one world and another.
The thought took at once, and occasioned
665
the most lively interest. We had no doubt,
from what we had learned of these planets,
that they were ﬁtted to be, at some time,
the home of intelligent beings. Our ques-
tion was whether the inhabitable period of
either of them coincided with that of Mars,
and, if so, whether the race was suﬃciently
developed to be able to see us as well as we
could see them.
666
”The ﬁrst means suggested to attract
the attention of such a race of beings was
ﬁre. You can imagine that we could get
together material enough to make a pretty
big blaze, and we did. We lighted immense
ﬁres in various places and kept them burn-
ing a long time, but without accomplishing
anything. We scanned minutely the surface
of each planet, but saw no sign anywhere
667
that our eﬀort at communication was rec-
ognized.
”Disappointed, but not discouraged, we
determined next to try a system of simple
hieroglyphics by throwing up huge mounds
on one of our plains. We thought, if other
eyes were studying Mars as closely as we
were searching the surface of our sister plan-
ets for signs of life, that they would no-
668
tice any unusual change in our appearance.
Then if they did notice it we hoped some
means would be found to let us know it.
”It was decided to try ﬁrst the ﬁgure of
the circle, because we knew that the form
of all heavenly bodies must be the most
familiar to intelligent life wherever it ex-
isted. It took years of labor to construct the
mound, for it was thought best to have it
669
large enough to give the experiment a thor-
ough trial. And now you may believe we
considered ourselves well repaid for all our
toil and expense when, soon after the cir-
cle was completed, our telescopes showed us
a similar form actually growing upon the
surface of both Saturn and Uranus. We
immediately replied by beginning the con-
struction of a square, and before this was
670
ﬁnished both planets began to answer, one
with the triangle and the other with the
crescent. The latter was made by Uranus,
and as soon as it was ﬁnished the triangle
began to appear beside it, showing to us
that Uranus was reading from Saturn also.
”Other signs followed, although, of course,
the work was very slow, and the experi-
ments are still in progress. Some slight be-
671
ginning has been made toward the inter-
change of ideas. The time and labor re-
quired will alone prevent extended commu-
nication, which would make it possible to
form, in the course of ages, a mutual lan-
guage. As we were the ﬁrst to start it we
propose to try to control the conversation,
but if Saturn and Uranus choose to steal
our idea and gossip between themselves, we
672
know of no way to stop them.”
As Thorwald proceeded with this mar-
velous recital, it was interesting to watch
the doctor’s face. It was so apparent to me
that he was fast losing his skepticism that
I was not surprised to hear him say:
”Thorwald, one fact is worth more to me
than a world of theory, and if you had be-
gun by relating this wonderful experience
673
you would not have found me so incredu-
lous. Who could refuse to believe with such
testimony before him? What news this will
be to take back to the earth! But you have,
doubtless, other discoveries to relate to us.
Excuse me,” the doctor continued, turning
to me, ”for interrupting, even for a moment,
our friend’s most interesting discourse.”
”Let me say,” resumed Thorwald, ”that
674
your interruption has been helpful to me,
for now I know you have lost your doubts
and believe with us in this matter.”
”These eﬀorts at communication have
occupied us for generations, and the close
study which we have been obliged to give to
the surface of the other planets has made us
well acquainted with their characteristics.
We have found many likenesses to our own
675
world, as well as various points of diﬀerence.
The succession of the seasons has been an
interesting phenomenon. We have watched
with delight the ever-changing rings of our
neighbor, Saturn, and can show you pic-
tures of them as they were thousands of
years ago.”
”We have taken great pleasure in ob-
serving the round of seasons on the surface
676
of the earth, not dreaming that we should
ever have the privilege of talking face to face
with its inhabitants.”
”Well, now that we are here, Thorwald,”
said the doctor, ”we want to get all the in-
formation possible. So please go on and tell
us more of your discoveries. How about
those bodies that you have found circling
like planets around other suns? Have you
677
any evidence in regard to their inhabitants?
Your telescopes cannot surely bring any such
bodies near enough to enable you to com-
municate with them.”
”True,” replied Thorwald, ”but this is
another instance where nature has lent us
her assistance. If you have been surprised
at some things that I have already said, you
will probably ﬁnd what I am about to relate
678
equally outside of your experience.”
CHAPTER XVIII.
STRUCK BY A COMET.
”The most remarkable event in the realm
of matter that ever occurred in connection
with this planet, of which we have a record,
679
was its collision with a comet. This was
many ages ago and it made an epoch in our
history, so that we say such a thing occurred
so many years before or after the collision.
Although the records are rather meager we
know enough of the details to have a fair
understanding of the wonderful event.
”The comet had no established period,
as so many others have, but seemed to be
680
an entirely new-comer, and from its ﬁrst ap-
pearance showed plainly that it was making
straight for our planet. The astronomers
predicted at once what the inevitable re-
sult would be, and you can imagine the con-
sternation of the world as this monstrous,
ﬁery object bore down upon us, increasing
in size and splendor every day, until it ﬁlled
half the sky and threatened to engulf us in
681
ﬂame and destruction. There seemed to be
no possible escape, and, in fact, there was
to be no escape from a collision, but almost
all the harm that followed was the result of
pure fright. For as the comet came rushing
upon us the whole hemisphere of Mars was
ﬁlled with its blazing substance, which ap-
peared, however, to burn itself out in our
atmosphere, and to leave, in most cases,
682
nothing to reach the ground.
”Perhaps you have seen a shower of falling
stars on the earth, brilliant and threaten-
ing in appearance, but causing in reality
little damage. So the comet came to us.
Its immense, ﬁery volume, which ﬁlled us
with such dread, was so diﬀused that it
was nearly all consumed by impact with our
atmosphere. But there was a great solid
683
nucleus, which struck the ground with im-
mense force, and remains as our largest me-
teorite.
”Thus not only was our world spared
from destruction, but that which threat-
ened to be such an evil proved to be a great
acquisition. For the comet, as it is still
called, has revealed to us the most aston-
ishing secrets. For a long time the mass
684
of matter lay untouched, superstition and
the lack of scientiﬁc curiosity tending to
preserve it as it fell. But at length the
spirit of inquiry proved to be too strong,
and within a comparatively recent period
the comet has been broken into and ex-
plored with wonderful results.
”You must know, to begin with, that
this greatest natural curiosity on the face of
685
our planet is no common meteorite such as
you are acquainted with. Indeed, if it had
struck the earth as fair a blow as it did us I
think the shock would have been felt much
more severely by your little race, for it is
hundreds of miles in diameter and the ve-
locity with which it was traveling was sim-
ply incredible. Fortunately it fell upon an
uninhabited plain, partly burying itself in
686
the ground, and for several years the mass
was so hot that it could not be approached.
This helped to make it an object of awe
and almost of veneration, so that many cen-
turies of time passed before any critical ex-
amination was made of it. Even then noth-
ing was accomplished toward revealing its
marvelous secrets. The surface was found
to be hard and metallic, with the famil-
687
iar burned appearance caused by contact
with the atmosphere, and the substance, in
its chemical composition, resembled, with
some variation, other meteoric specimens.
Some attempt was made to penetrate into
the interior of the mass, but all that was
discovered led to the belief that it was of
similar structure throughout.
”This was the extent of the knowledge
688
obtained of the interesting object until the
beginning of the present age of advanced
civilization.
”When we had learned by our successful
experiments that some of our sister plan-
ets were inhabited, and when our powerful
telescopes had revealed what we believed
to be planets of other systems, there was
intense interest in the search for any evi-
689
dence of life in these more distant worlds.
They were so very far away that we doubted
if we could ever know enough about them
to tell whether they were habitable, and it
seemed as if we could only judge of their
condition from analogy with our own so-
lar system. These views prevailed until the
brilliant suggestion was made, and it is not
known by whom it was ﬁrst advanced, that
690
perhaps we had, right here with us, the
means of discovering what we so much de-
sired to know. It had always been assumed
that our comet was of uniform structure,
but why let such a matter rest in uncer-
tainty? It is one of the strange things in
our history that this question was not seri-
ously asked long before that time. But now
that the idea was broached the work was
691
entered into with great earnestness.
”This was the position: Here was this
huge mass that had come to us from some
unknown region of the sky, almost certainly
from beyond the bounds of our solar sys-
tem, and we were to pry into it to see if it
had any story to tell us of its former con-
dition. The advancement of science had
given us the means of easily penetrating
692
into the interior of the comet, and it was
determined to make thorough work of it.
And this feeling was found to be necessary,
for the enterprise proved to be discouraging
for many years. An immense tunnel was
made through the entire mass, and noth-
ing was found to repay the trouble. Many
were now in favor of abandoning the work,
but after a period of rest another trial was
693
decided upon and a second tunnel begun.
Never did perseverance have a more perfect
reward; for, before the new excavations had
proceeded far, discoveries were made which
suddenly changed our comet, in regard to
which most people had lost all interest, into
the most wonderful object in all the world.
”In short, we now know that we have
here a fragment of a former planet. How
694
the planet was dismembered and how this
piece happened to come ﬂying to us, we do
not know. But could it have come about
more fortunately for us if it had all been de-
signed by an over-ruling power? When we
had learned all that our expanding but lim-
ited intelligence could teach us of the other
parts of the universe, and when our minds
were ripe for more knowledge, we found this
695
magniﬁcent object lesson, which had been
waiting for us all these years. Beneath the
uninviting surface of that familiar comet
were revealed wonders which, if they had
been discovered when the mass ﬁrst came,
would not have been half-appreciated, but
which now told us, in answer to our ea-
ger inquiries, more than we ever thought
to know about the far-distant works of our
696
God.”
The doctor and I were amazed beyond
measure by this recital, and were quite ready
to admit that a superior intelligence had di-
rected the wonderful event. But we were
exceedingly anxious to know some of the
details of the discovery, and when the doc-
tor had expressed this wish Thorwald pro-
ceeded:
697
”I could talk on this subject,” he said,
”till night-fall if you desire, but it will be
better for you to restrain your curiosity till
you can be taken in person to the scene.
Let me tell you in general terms what you
will ﬁnd. The comet fell, as I have said,
in an uninhabited plain, but it is now at
the door of the largest city on our planet,
which has been built there since the discov-
698
eries were made. The excavations have left
an immense opening, where galleries and
chambers of great extent have been dug out.
These have been ﬁnished oﬀ with untold
labor, and new ones are being constantly
added. Here is our greatest museum, beside
which all other collections of natural objects
are as nothing, for all that has been found in
the comet remains there; nothing has been
699
allowed to be taken away. You will appreci-
ate something of the wonderful character of
these curiosities when I tell you that they
give evidence of a world many times larger
than Jupiter and of an intellectual and spir-
itual development as much beyond ours as
ours is in advance of that of the earth.
”We have exhumed buried cities in our
own planet more than once, where volcano
700
or other convulsion had overwhelmed them,
and found the relics of past civilization; but
here, in our comet, we look not upon the
past but upon the future, as it were, and
see what has been done in a world much
older than our own. The belief that the
comet did not originate in our solar sys-
tem has been veriﬁed, for we ﬁnd that the
globe of which it was once a part revolved
701
around an immense sun which had a retinue
of twenty- seven planets of various sizes.
Whether this great sun is one of the stars of
our ﬁrmament we can only conjecture; per-
haps in some future state of existence we
shall know.
”You have wondered if the earth will
ever advance to the condition in which you
ﬁnd us, and we are asking the same question
702
in regard to ourselves and the still higher
development exhibited in our comet. My
opinion is that these very discoveries are
to be in a measure the means of our ad-
vancement. We are only beginning to make
out their wonderful character. As we learn
more of them we hope to ﬁnd out more
closely how that people lived, and to be
directed in our upward path by their ex-
703
ample. In the pursuit of this knowledge we
are hampered by our ignorance of their lan-
guage. All that we know of them and their
planet has been gained by their very sugges-
tive pictures and illustrations, for of their
written records, which exist in great abun-
dance, we can as yet make nothing. In our
former studies of the diﬀerent languages of
our own world we found something common
704
to them all, upon which we could work; but
in this case an entirely new principle seems
to obtain, and the problem so far baﬄes all
our skill. So you see here is something for
us to do, and when we have accomplished
the task, as I have no doubt that result will
come, we shall then be able to study in de-
tail that remarkable civilization the knowl-
edge of which is wisely kept from us until
705
we can understand and appreciate it.
”You come here from your young planet,
representing a race that is still struggling
with the lower forms of materialism, and
ﬁnd us so much in advance of your condi-
tion that perhaps you imagine we are per-
fect. We ourselves know we are far from
that state, especially since we have been
able to compare our development with the
706
higher civilization of the people who once
lived on our comet.”
Thorwald paused a moment, and the
doctor, who showed by every indication that
he was engrossed in the subject, took occa-
sion to remark:
”We certainly have harbored the thought
you attribute to us, Thorwald. After all
you have told us of your freedom from trou-
707
ble, of the dethronement of selﬁshness and
the reign of love, of your great achievements
in every art, and of your ideal life in gen-
eral, we shall always look upon you as a
perfect race. How is it possible to rise to
a higher plain? Can you express in terms
suited to our comprehension your idea of
that advanced state of existence of which
you ﬁnd indications on your comet? What
708
is the character of that development?”
”You will perhaps understand something
of its character,” answered Thorwald, ”if I
say it is almost entirely spiritual. While
we have made some progress in that direc-
tion, our superiority over the earth-dwellers
is chieﬂy in physical and intellectual attain-
ments. In the realm of the spirit we have yet
far to go, and as long as we can see imper-
709
fections in our nature we feel that there is
something ahead for us to strive after. With
that example before us of a much more ex-
alted life, we shall not be satisﬁed until we
have learned its secrets and attained to its
perfections. In this upward march we shall
be sustained and helped by the same divine
Power that has thus far led us.”
710
CHAPTER XIX.
I DISCOVER THE SINGER.
We were much impressed by Thorwald’s
earnest words and manner, and we began
to realize that the civilization of Mars was
above our most exalted conception. I had
been so carried away by the topics which I
had feared were going to be uninteresting
711
that I had lost some of the restlessness of
the morning, but as our sitting broke up
and I noticed it was drawing near noon my
anxious thoughts returned. Finding Fronda
and learning from her from what direction
Avis might be expected to come, I deter-
mined to go out alone and see if I could
meet her. I managed to get away with-
out the fact being noticed, as far as I could
712
discover, and started down the walk at a
brisk pace. The houses were a good dis-
tance apart and were all attractive enough
to draw out both wonder and admiration,
had my mind been in a condition to appre-
ciate their beauty. Occasionally an electric
carriage would pass me, but the ﬁrst pedes-
trian I met was a woman of noble bear-
ing and about the age of Fronda, I should
713
judge. After all I had heard of the physical
and mental perfections of the inhabitants of
Mars, I did not expect to see any but good-
looking people. In this we were never disap-
pointed, though still there were gradations
of beauty even there. This woman whom I
had met must have been at one time strik-
ingly handsome, and if time had robbed her
of any of that quality it had made it up by
714
giving her a rare sweetness that fully atoned
for the loss. As I was about to pass her
she looked at me with such a pleasant and
agreeable curiosity that I stopped and said:
”Pardon me, but may I ask you a ques-
tion?”
”Certainly,” she answered in a charming
voice, ”and I shall be very glad to help you
in any way. I recognize that you are one
715
of the earth- dwellers, and I have met your
companion the doctor.”
”Is it possible? I wonder he has not
told me of such good fortune. But this is
the question I wanted to ask you. As you
came along this path did you see a young
girl named Avis?”
”I did not, I am sure. I have met no
young girl, and I could not see any one by
716
the name of Avis.”
”Why so?”
”Because there is no such girl.”
”Excuse me,” I said, ”but probably you
do not know her. I have just come from one
of the houses yonder, where she is expected
about noon, and I came out to try and meet
her.”
”Do you know her?” she asked.
717
”No–or, rather, I hope so; I cannot tell
till I see her.”
”That’s curious. Have you ever met her?”
”I am not sure. I hope I have. I cannot
explain it to you just now, but the minute
I put my eyes on Avis I shall be able to
answer all your questions.”
”But her name cannot be Avis.”
”Oh, yes, it is. It is quite plain that you
718
do not know her.”
”I beg your pardon,” she returned, ”there
is but one person in all this country by the
name of Avis.”
”Then that is the very person I am try-
ing to ﬁnd.”
”You have found her.”
”Where?”
”Right here. I am she.”
719
I laughed outright and said:
”Oh, no, you must be mistaken. I do
not mean to be disrespectful, but the Avis
I am looking for is young, younger than I
am–evidently another person of your name,
whom you have never met.”
”How do you know she is young?”
”Why,” I answered, ”of course she is
young.”
720
And then, when I thought of it a mo-
ment, I remembered that no one had told
me her age, but I added:
”I know she is young, because I have
heard her sing.”
It was now my companion’s turn to laugh,
but although her merriment was at my ex-
pense its expression, like all her actions, was
exceedingly pleasing. The thought occurred
721
to me that even the most cultured of the
earth’s inhabitants have still much to learn
in the realm of manners.
”Oh, do you imagine,” she asked, in the
midst of her laughing, ”that you can tell
one’s age in Mars from the quality of the
voice? Does this Avis of yours sing well?”
”Excellently well. Until I heard her I
had supposed there was but one singer any-
722
where, in earth, sun, moon, or star, pos-
sessed of such a sweet and thrilling voice.”
”And where, if I may ask, did you ﬁnd
that one?”
”Oh, the doctor and I discovered her in
our travels. I will tell you all about her
when I have more time. Now will you ex-
cuse me while I continue my search for Avis?”
”You have forgotten,” she answered, ”what
723
I told you. I am Avis.”
”Not my Avis, the singer.”
”Yes, the very same, and I can prove it.”
”How?”
She answered by turning half around,
lifting her head, and sending out on the
air one full, rich note. It poorly describes
my emotions to say I was astonished. If
I had been blind and dependent only on
724
what I heard at that moment, I should have
thrown myself at her feet and called her
Mona. It brought back to me not only every
expression of Mona’s marvelous voice, but
also every feature and every grace which
had formerly so bewitched me. If I had
loved her passionately when we were to-
gether in the body, it would be diﬃcult to
characterize my feelings now that she was
725
present only in memory. These sensations
swept over me rapidly, but before I could
utter a word my companion spoke again:
”I see you hesitate. Let me complete
my proof by saying that you are visiting,
with Zenith and Thorwald, at the house of
Fronda, and have heard me sing two nights
in succession.”
”Then,” I exclaimed, with sorrow and
726
despair in my voice, ”I have indeed found
Avis, but, alas! I have once more lost Mona.”
”How so?”
”Why, don’t you see? I expected to ﬁnd
Mona and lose Avis. I thought Avis was
Mona, a thought born partly of hope, I sup-
pose, but it did not seem possible that there
could be two such singers. So you are re-
ally Avis. I must try and remember that,
727
and not express any more sorrow at not los-
ing you. If Avis could not be Mona it is
certainly a great consolation to ﬁnd her in
you. Let me return with you to Proctor’s;
and now, will you not sing for me as we
walk?”
”Are you so fond of singing, or is it be-
cause you like to be reminded of Mona?”
”Both, I assure you.”
728
”Does my voice sound like hers in con-
versation?”
”Oh, no, Mona never talked as we do.
Everything she wanted to say she sang.”
”You surprise me,” said Avis. ”I should
think she would soon become tiresome to
her friends.”
”If you had ever known her you would
not make such a remark as that.”
729
”I beg your pardon,” she quickly returned.
”I presume you are right. And now, to
atone for wounding your feelings, I will sing
till we come in sight of Fronda’s house.”
”I thank you very much, and I promise
you I shall walk as slowly as possible.”
She sang some sweet little things for me
as we sauntered along, attracting me power-
fully and making it easier for me to conceal
730
my great disappointment.
When we reached the house Avis ex-
plained, in a few pleasant words, the fact
of our acquaintance, and as soon as family
and guests were all gathered for the noon-
day lunch I told them about my peculiar
forgetfulness of what had occurred on the
moon and then about the manner in which
the events had been brought back to my
731
mind. They showed more interest in the
latter part of my relation than in the for-
mer, and when I was through the doctor
said:
”I must confess to you now, my friend,
that I told these good people something about
your aberration. It was entirely for your
own sake, for I wanted their help in bring-
ing about your recovery, and now that we
732
have been successful I hope you will forgive
me.”
”You know there is nothing to forgive,”
I replied. Then Zenith said:
”The doctor implies that we have all
helped in the happy result, but I can tell
you that it is entirely due to himself and
Avis. He happened to meet Avis and heard
her sing. He was struck at once with the
733
likeness between her voice and Mona’s, about
whom he had told us, and he conceived the
idea that if you could hear it when you
were alone, say in the night, and not know
who the singer was, it might be the means
of bringing the forgotten circumstances all
back to you. From what the doctor has
told us we have, every one of us, fallen in
love with Mona, and I presume when we get
734
your estimate we shall think none the less
of her. If I am correctly informed you found
her especially attractive.”
”In answer to your kind expressions of
interest in me, Zenith, I will say that, in
spite of my appreciation of what you are all
doing for us, I shall never see another really
happy moment until Mona is found.”
”Then,” quickly responded Thorwald, ”we
735
must redouble our eﬀorts to ﬁnd her. I must
tell you that ever since the doctor ﬁrst ac-
quainted us with the loss of Mona we have
had parties searching for her in all that part
of the ocean.”
”How thoughtful you are,” I exclaimed.
”But why do we not hurry home? Perhaps
she is found.”
”I regret to add to your sorrow,” said
736
Thorwald, ”but we should learn of it here
as quickly as at home, for I am in con-
stant communication with my friends who
are conducting the search. Still, we have
been staying here for you and can now bring
our visit to a close at any time.”
So after lunch we bade adieu to Proctor
and his household, and started for home,
the same way we went out–that is, by go-
737
ing west again. As we made a leisurely jour-
ney and enjoyed a good night’s rest on the
way, it was just before noon when we ar-
rived at Thorwald’s house. Here we found
Antonia, who had been advised of our com-
ing by telephone, and had prepared a nice
lunch for us. Just as we were all about
to sit down to enjoy it, a young man en-
tered unannounced and, without formal in-
738
vitation, joined us in gathering about the
board. This was not an instance of undue
familiarity, as we soon discovered, but illus-
trated again the free and hearty hospitality
of these generous people.
”Foedric,” said Thorwald, as soon as the
guest had been greeted, ”let me present you
to these two friends from the earth. You
doubtless have heard of their arrival.”
739
”I have,” answered Foedric, ”and I am
exceedingly pleased to make their acquain-
tance.” And then turning to the doctor, he
said:
”We shall not let Thorwald and Zenith
have the monopoly of your company while
you are visiting our world. Many others are
anxious to see you and to learn something
of our sister planet.”
740
”There is not much to learn,” said the
doctor, ”from such an unripe race as we rep-
resent, and I must say your people have not
exhibited any unpleasant curiosity.”
”I am glad you have not been annoyed.
We understand too well what is due you
as our guests to crowd our attentions upon
you, but you will allow me to say that al-
ready the main facts in your case are known
741
all over our world, and our scientists are dis-
cussing the earth and its inhabitants in the
great light of the knowledge which you have
brought.”
Foedric spoke with ease, and yet with
entire absence of youthful pedantry. The
doctor and I could but admire his ﬁne face
and robust form, as well as his manly cour-
tesy and friendliness. And before the meal
742
was over we discovered that one other per-
son at the table admired him, probably for
the same and many other qualities. It seemed
to us accidental when Foedric had dropped
in upon us and chosen a seat next to Anto-
nia, but it soon became evident that we had
not witnessed even that kind of an accident.
What was exhibited to us there, among
that highly developed people, was a gen-
743
uine, old-fashioned, new-fashioned love af-
fair. We rejoiced in our hearts to ﬁnd that
their advanced civilization left abundant room
for the development of the tender passion,
and that it also seemed not to discourage
a plain and sensible exhibition of it. For
these two young people made no eﬀort to
conceal their happiness. Not the company
of their chosen friends nor the presence of
744
strangers from a distant world caused them
the slightest embarrassment, as they spoke
from time to time their words of love, simple
words to other listeners, but full of meaning
to themselves.
”Say that again, Antonia,” spoke Foedric.
”Why do you ask me to repeat it so of-
ten? I have said it so many times and with
so little variety of expression that I fear the
745
monotony will tire you. You can tell how
strong my devotion is by my every look and
action.”
”Very well,” Foedric responded, ”then I,
too, will be silent.”
”Oh, no; I retract what I have said if
it is to have that eﬀect. It is only my own
expressions that seem tiresome. I could not
be happy without your voice in my ears,
746
though you repeat from morn till eve the
old, familiar words.”
”Then you must believe the same of me,”
said Foedric.
As we all happened to be listening to
these two at that moment, Foedric looked
up to our host and said:
”Thorwald, do you think Antonia and
I had better try to reform the customs of
747
the world, and do away with all verbal ex-
pression of our attachment, on the ground
that it is unnecessary and only a waste of
breath?”
”If some cruel master should force such
a prohibition upon you, Foedric, what would
be your feeling? The heart craves such ex-
pression as naturally as the body craves food.
Suppose a couple were to start oﬀ by say-
748
ing once for all that they loved each other,
and then agree to live the rest of their lives
on that one expression. They would argue
that all such sentiment was folly, and inter-
fered with the serious business of life, and
so, denying a healthy appetite, their hearts
would shrivel up and the fair blossom of
their love would soon wither and die.”
As we smiled at Thorwald’s words, Zenith
749
showed her interest by saying:
”The subject reminds me of that epoch
in our history of which we read, when all
the world went without eating for a time.”
”Without eating?” asked the doctor.
”Yes, I will tell you about it. Once sci-
ence reached that condition where it thought
it could make the world over and improve
on the ﬁrst creation in a great many ways.
750
Men began to say that the time spent in
cooking and eating was all wasted, that time,
being the most valuable thing they had,
should be employed in some more useful
way than in indulging a mere sensual pas-
sion. The appetite came to be looked upon
as something too gross for intelligent be-
ings and suited only to the natures of the
lower animals. Under the inﬂuence of this
751
growing sentiment, science soon discovered
a process for condensing our food to won-
derfully small proportions. All extraneous
matter was rejected, and only those parti-
cles retained which were absolutely essen-
tial to our nourishment, chemical knowl-
edge having reached a high state. The re-
sult was that it ﬁnally became possible to
subsist a whole day on a single swallow.
752
One pill, taken every morning, contained
all the food required, both for the growth
and maintenance of the body Science prided
itself on such an advanced step, and men
looked forward and wondered what further
marvels the future would bring forth.”
The doctor did not try to hide his in-
terest in this recital, and as soon as Zenith
paused he said:
753
”My friend and myself are most truly
thankful that that custom did not continue
to the present day. But did it remain long?”
”No,” replied Zenith, ”of course it could
not. At ﬁrst people thought it an immense
gain. Just think of the time and expense it
saved in every household, doing away with
dining-room and kitchen, with all their fur-
niture and utensils, and reducing the cares
754
of housekeeping much more than half. But
it proved to be a costly experiment, and
nature soon exerted itself, as it always will
in time. Science, not satisﬁed with what
had been accomplished, kept striving after
what it called more perfect results, and just
as it had made a pellet of such powerful
ingredients that it would sustain life for a
week, men began to die rapidly of the treat-
755
ment. This called a halt, but the damage
done was serious enough to give the world
a good fright, turn it back to the old fash-
ioned habit of eating, and conﬁrm us forever
in that indulgence. Since then we have be-
lieved that such appetites are given us for
a wise purpose and that, rightly enjoyed,
they are a means of growth toward a more
and more perfect state.”
756
”This lesson from our experience then,”
said Foedric to Antonia, ”is to teach us
the plain duty of lavishing upon each other,
without measure, our aﬀectionate words, be-
cause it is a legitimate, healthy longing of
our nature, and I sincerely hope you will
take it to heart. Do not undertake to make
me exist a week or a day on a single morsel.”
As for myself, I was not so much en-
757
grossed in this talk as to forget my own
condition, which seemed all the more for-
lorn by contrast with the unalloyed happi-
ness of these joyous beings. I wondered if
such aﬀairs always went smoothly in Mars.
Was early love always mutual, or did one
sometimes refuse to be wooed and prefer
another? And did it ever happen that the
loved one was lost, as Mona was lost to me,
758
perhaps never to be found?
But in the company of such happy peo-
ple I felt that my anxious spirit was out of
place, and I tried to cast oﬀ my forebodings
and to seize from the image of Mona present
in my memory a portion of her own cheer
and hope. That I was not entirely success-
ful my looks must have shown, for as we
rose from the table Zenith said to me, with
759
a look of sympathy:
”You are sad–I think I will send for Avis
to come over and cheer you up.”
This was spoken as if Avis were just
across the street and could run over in a
minute. But as I did not discourage the idea
the invitation was sent, and before night
Avis was with us, ﬁlling the house with
melody. She delighted in her song and was
760
as youthful in spirit as a girl, and this was a
quality always noticeable in the Martians.
And, moreover, under the inﬂuence of Avis
the members of our own household found
their voices, so that the doctor and I learned
that they need not send to the antipodes for
singers. Zenith and Foedric were exception-
ally good, but no one except Avis possessed
the peculiar charm of Mona.
761
CHAPTER XX.
A WONDERFUL REVELATION.
There was no way by which we could
learn so much and so rapidly about that
wonderful world as by conversation, so at
every opportunity we tried to get Thorwald
and the others to give us portions of their
history. From time to time my companion
762
and myself compared our impressions, and
expressed to each other the pleasure we an-
ticipated in relating all the amazing things
we had seen and heard to our friends on the
earth. The exceedingly doubtful problem of
our ever getting back to our home again did
not trouble us then.
We said to each other that the most
startling things had probably all been told
763
us, and that we could not be much surprised
by anything that they could tell us further.
And yet there was that to follow which,
if we could fully enter into its signiﬁcance,
would make us forget much of what we had
already heard, or at least care but little to
recall it. In truth, the new revelation which
we were about to receive from the lips of
our friend was of so much value, and so dif-
764
ferent in character from the other subjects
Thorwald had spoken of, that we afterward
came to look upon all that had gone be-
fore as an introduction, perhaps intended
to prepare our minds for a much grander
truth. Yet it was brought out by a question
from me, a question of whose importance I
had little conception.
When Thorwald was ready to talk one
765
day I said to him:
”We have heard you several times speak
reverently of a God. Will you tell us deﬁ-
nitely what your religion is?”
”With pleasure,” he replied. ”We wor-
ship one God, the maker of all things, and
his Son, Jesus Christ, who gave his life for
us.”
”Why, how did you hear of his death,
766
Thorwald?”
”I might better ask how you heard of it.
Many centuries ago God saw ﬁt to reveal
himself more fully to us by sending his only
Son, who came in the likeness of our ﬂesh,
dwelt among us, and by cruel hands was
slain. He gave himself a sacriﬁce for our
sins, but rose again from the dead, as we,
too, shall rise. He ascended into heaven and
767
through him we now have access unto the
Father.”
”But Jesus died on the earth too, and
you but describe his relations to us.”
”I rejoice greatly to hear it,” answered
Thorwald, ”and I know now why you were
sent to us. This information is of inestimable
value to us, for we have spent much thought
on the question of the moral government of
768
other worlds that we knew were inhabited.
In God’s dealings with Mars, lifting up our
souls and preparing us for his service and
glory, we believed he was working in the
very best way. There can be but one best
way; and so, considering that there might
be many other races of sinful beings needing
a saviour, we wondered how God’s mercy
was revealed to them. This bright news
769
which you bring is worth more to us at the
present time than all other possible infor-
mation about the earth or its people. The
fact that the earth is inhabited was no great
surprise to us after what we had learned of
our larger neighbors, but this–this is news
indeed.
”As an example of what our interest in
this subject has prompted us to do, let me
770
tell you that in our extremely laborious and
limited intercourse with Saturn and Uranus
we made the form of the cross. We all
feared our work might be in vain and many
doubted seriously the wisdom of proceed-
ing with the undertaking, which occupied
many years, when it was so probable that
those distant people would not know what
the sign meant. But we labored on, and
771
before the form was fairly ﬁnished it was
with the keenest pleasure that we saw the
answer growing on the rounded surface of
each planet. They worked, they stopped,
and then we realized that both had replied
to our question with the short straight line
which, in our communications, has come to
be the aﬃrmative sign, or the ’yes’ in the
new universal language.
772
”We interpreted this answer to mean that
the great redemption signiﬁed by the cross
was known to the highly intelligent races
that peopled these rolling worlds. But how
did that knowledge reach them? To that
question we never hoped to get an answer.
Did a troop of bright angels issue forth from
the gates of heaven and wing their way from
one planet to another, as each race was ready
773
for the joyful tidings, and make this glad
announcement?–’Peace from heaven to this
world! On Mars, your sister planet, a child
was born, the Son of God, the Saviour of
the universe. He lived a perfect life for your
example, he died on the cross for your salva-
tion. Believe in him, love him, follow him!’
”We thought much on this point, won-
dering reverently how God had wrought.
774
And now you have come to explain all the
mystery, to answer all questions. One sim-
ple sentence tells it all: ’Jesus died on the
earth too.’
”I see it perfectly now. Christ, the Lord
of heaven, came to us in the fullness of time,
took upon him the likeness of our ﬂesh, lived
nobly, was slain, rose again from the dead,
and ascended into heaven to prepare blessed
775
mansions for all his followers. So, too, in
the fullness of your time, when the earth
was ready for the great sacriﬁce, Christ of-
fered himself again. He appeared in human
form and lived among men as he had lived
with us, pointing your race, also, to a home
of peace and joy above.
”Better than any announcement of an-
gels of what had taken place in some other
776
world was his actual life among you, going
about doing good, shedding around him the
spirit of love and self-denial, showing you
the way to live, the way to die.
”Among the vast multitude of peopled
worlds which God has made, there is doubt-
less great variety in nature and condition.
But if there are any others whose inhabi-
tants were ever in our lost condition, let us
777
hope and believe that the same great act of
mercy has been shown to them which has
so greatly blessed the planets of our own
system.”
Here, at Thorwald’s request, I told him
brieﬂy of the Saviour’s advent on the earth
in the fulﬁllment of prophecy, of his beauti-
ful life, and then of the marvelous improve-
ment his religion had brought about as it
778
spread in the world.
Thorwald appeared intensely interested,
and exclaimed: ”Oh! how this truth you
have told us does make brothers of us all,
and how it will enhance the pleasure of our
intercourse. Now in our future conversation
we shall be in full sympathy, knowing that,
though born so far apart, we are all follow-
ers of the same dear Master.
779
”Zenith,” said Thorwald to his wife, who
was sitting with us, ”this is a happy day
for us all. These earth-dwellers, these men
who have come to visit our world, are not
strangers; they are Christians. Think of it.”
At this juncture I could not help study-
ing the doctor’s face, for I knew this was the
ﬁrst time he had ever been called a Chris-
tian. In spite of the seriousness of the sit-
780
uation, I was obliged to indulge in a quiet
smile to think he had to go all the way to
Mars to be recognized in his true character.
For although he would not acknowledge the
divine source of it, he had imbibed a great
deal of the real Christian spirit. But he had
spent his life in seeking for scientiﬁc knowl-
edge in various directions and was content,
as he often said, to leave the unknowable
781
without investigation. I wondered whether,
in these novel circumstances, he would care
to give voice to his agnosticism. But the
doctor was honest or he was nothing, and
he could not endure that Thorwald should
rest under the false impression implied by
his closing words. So with some eﬀort, as I
could see, he said:
”I dislike exceedingly, Thorwald, to de-
782
stroy the least particle of the eﬀect of your
eloquence, but I feel compelled to say that,
as for me, I have never called myself a Chris-
tian.”
”Not a Christian!” said Thorwald. ”I do
not understand you. But perhaps you use
some other name. You surely do not mean
that you turn aside from that divine being
who came to the earth to save you.”
783
”I do not know that such a being did
come to the earth.”
”What!” exclaimed Thorwald, ”is there
any doubt of it? Has your companion here
been deceived? Must we give up our new-
found joy?”
”Oh, no, no,” answered the doctor hur-
riedly. ”I suppose it is true that a good
man named Jesus once lived on the earth
784
and taught, and died a shameful death.”
”A good man! Nothing more?”
”I don’t know,” answered the doctor.
”What do you believe?”
”I do not allow myself to have any be-
lief.”
”Well, now, Doctor, you are a think-
ing being. Considering all you know about
Jesus–his noble life, his character and the
785
character of his teachings, and then the claims
he made for himself–what do you think of
him?”
”Before such mysteries, and in answer to
all questions relating to what is called the
supernatural, I always say, ’I do not know.’”
”Well,” continued Thorwald, ”do you think
the life and death of a good man could set
in motion forces that would so transform
786
the world and give it such a start toward a
higher and more perfect state?”
To this the doctor replied:
”In the early part of this conversation
my companion told you he thought the con-
dition of man on the earth was improving,
or, in other words, that the earth was grow-
ing better. In that opinion he has many
supporters, but it is only fair that you should
787
know that some of us hold just the oppo-
site view. We see so much evil in the world,
evil that is unrebuked and growing stronger
from year to year, so many forces at work
dragging men downward and such fearful
clouds ahead, that it seems to us that the
good is overmatched, and that there is but
little hope of a happy future for our race. I
will also say, in order to be perfectly frank,
788
that even if we should admit that our civ-
ilization was advancing, we should not at-
tribute it to the inﬂuence of the Jewish re-
former.”
”Then,” said Thorwald, ”if I understand
your feeling, you have no love, no thanks
even, for him who gave his life for you, and
no sense of gratitude for the loving Father
who sent his Son to die for your sins.”
789
”I think you are hardly just,” replied the
doctor, ”for I am not conscious of living
a life of ingratitude. Your words imply a
great deal that I know nothing about. I am
not aware that anyone was ever sent from
heaven to die for me, and I do not even
know there is a heaven and a God.”
”Did it ever occur to you, Doctor, that
your attitude does not alter the facts? In
790
spite of your unbelief, or indiﬀerence if you
will, there is a God whose steps are heard
throughout the universe, whose hand up-
holds all worlds, and who looks with lov-
ing eyes upon all created beings, even upon
those who have the intelligence but not the
heart to acknowledge him. Oh! it is amaz-
ing to me that there can be one such being
in all God’s dominions.”
791
”Why, are there not any in Mars?”
”In Mars? Not one. Let me tell you,
Doctor, that here you will be unique, if that
is any consolation to you. When this talk is
made public and the facts in your case are
spread abroad everybody will want a share
in bringing you to your right mind, and we
shall see what the result will be with a world
full of missionaries to one heathen.”
792
”Please do not use that word, Thorwald.
I was born in Boston–you must know where
Boston is–of good old Puritan stock, and
I am not a heathen because I don’t know
about some matters that I cannot, in the
nature of things, know anything about. You
found a while ago that I wanted imagina-
tion, and you now see that I am deﬁcient
also in faith, which it seems to me is a prod-
793
uct of the imagination.”
”No,” broke in Thorwald, ”faith might
rather be called the product of reason and
of the conscience, enlightened by every rev-
elation which God has made. But with us
faith is an instinct. We believe in God as
naturally as we trust our parents. Our souls
reach after divine things to satisfy their long-
ings, just as our bodies seek the food that
794
shall nourish them. In all this world there
is not a heart devoid of love to God, not
one that does not own a personal and joy-
ful allegiance to the divine Saviour.
”But I forget that the earth is still young,
and that, very long ago, when Mars was in
your condition, representatives of our race
actually walked the surface of this planet
with no more thought of its Maker than
795
you exhibit. Forgive me if, in this talk, I
have seemed too positive of things which
you claim cannot be known. But here there
is no uncertainty in these matters. There
is now no open question in regard to the
existence of God and his loving care of us.”
”But, Thorwald,” asked the doctor, ”how
can you be sure? Help me to see these
things as you do. In the matter of the
796
habitability of other worlds you brought me
over to your opinion by producing evidence
which took away all uncertainty and left me
no room to doubt. Is it so in this case?”
”No, my friend,” answered Thorwald,
”it is not so. The evidence in this case is of
an entirely diﬀerent character. Your com-
panion has told me how God has dealt with
men, by what means he has made known his
797
will, and how he has revealed his love and
mercy to your race. So has it been with
us, only here we have had more time to ac-
quaint ourselves with these blessed truths.
If you ask for proofs, I can only say they are
the same which have no doubt been reiter-
ated many times in your ears. The voices
that come to us from the invisible world are
not tuned to the coarse ﬁber of our physi-
798
cal nature, but are addressed to our spirits,
our very selves, and he who does not heed
those voices would not be persuaded even
though one should rise from the dead.
”Let me induce you, Doctor, to cultivate
the spiritual part of your being, evidently
undeveloped as yet, for only then will you
begin to realize that the evidence in sup-
port of these divine truths is more convinc-
799
ing than any possible proofs that could be
presented to our outward senses.”
”Under your instruction,” said the doc-
tor, ”and with the example of a world full
of spirits of your faith and practice, I will
do my best to follow your advice, and try to
catch some faint strain from those heavenly
voices. If I cannot believe, it shall no longer
be because I will not. But now, Thorwald,
800
you have given too much time to me and
have been drawn away from your purpose
of enlightening us in regard to your won-
derful planet.”
”Yes, Thorwald,” said I, ”we must hear
more of your interesting history, and I think
an account of what the religion of Jesus has
done for Mars will help to win the doctor
to right views.”
801
”I shall take much pleasure in doing the
best I can whenever you are good enough to
listen,” Thorwald answered. ”But we shall
now be still more anxious to hear further
about the earth.”
802
CHAPTER XXI.
A LITTLE ANCIENT HISTORY.
In the foregoing personal conversation,
Thorwald had been uncompromising in look
and tone, as well as in word, toward the er-
rors of my friend, but for the doctor himself
I was sure he had the kindest feelings. The
discovery of the dearth of spiritual percep-
803
tion in the doctor was a greater surprise
to Thorwald, I really believe, than our ﬁrst
appearance was. And it was a surprise well
calculated to awaken in his ﬁner nature a
feeling as near akin to indignation as the
Martian mind of that era was capable of ex-
periencing. So we had here the opportunity
of observing how a member of this highly
civilized race, one endowed with such lofty
804
attributes, would act under severe provoca-
tion. The exhibition was instructive. Thor-
wald certainly resented with all the force of
his pure and upright nature all that was evil
in the doctor’s attitude. Such doubt was
entirely new to his experience. He had no
place for it; and he could do no less than cry
out against it as he had done. But his man-
ner softened as soon as the doctor’s mood
805
changed, and it was apparent that he was
ready to encourage in every possible way
the slightest indication of a change. And
from this time Thorwald was particularly
tender toward the doctor, evidently desir-
ing to show him that, unbending to every-
thing like disloyalty to God, he recognized
his sincerity when he declared that he would
no longer set his will against the reception
806
of the truth.
In this mind Thorwald said:
”I perceive, Doctor, that your sturdy
self-respect and the fear that you might ap-
pear in a false position have compelled you
to be unfair to yourself. You believe more
than you confess, else why did you repel
with such feeling my insinuation that you
were a heathen? But if you have ever de-
807
termined to go through life believing in only
what your hand can touch and your eye
can see, let me induce you to close your
eyes and fold your hands for a while, and
with expectancy wait for the coming into
your heart of that divine inﬂuence which,
encouraged however feebly, shall presently
show to your inner and better vision, in all
his beauty, him whom no eye hath seen nor
808
can see.
”I do not exclude you therefore, Doc-
tor, when I say again that we have all been
drawn into close sympathy by the knowl-
edge your companion has imparted, and in
what I have to say further I am sure you will
both see a great deal to cause you to real-
ize that your race and ours have the same
dear Father, who is guiding us to a common
809
destiny.
”At your request I am to give you from
time to time, as we have opportunity, an
account of the successive steps of our de-
velopment, and I would like to say at the
start that there will be one great diﬀerence
between what I am to tell you and the ram-
bling talk with which we began our happy
acquaintance. Then I gave you a few facts
810
to show our present condition, without in-
timating that there was any higher force at
work than a natural desire in us to make
the most of ourselves, and treat our neigh-
bors well. Now, since I have discovered that
you can enter into my feelings to a greater
or less extent, I shall not hesitate to refer
to its true source all that has helped us at-
tain to our present condition, and all that
811
is urging us on to a still higher state.”
”We shall he very glad to know what
you consider the spring of all the vast im-
provement in your race,” I remarked.
”I did not use the word ’consider,’” replied
Thorwald. ”That would imply doubt where
there is none. It is established beyond con-
troversy that both our material and spiri-
tual development have come only through
812
the personal love and care of God for the
creatures whom he has made, exhibited through
all our history, but especially through the
sending of his Son.”
”Some on the earth recognize the same
truth in reference to our race,” I said. ”But,
in general, people do not think much of
such things, or if they think they do not say
much. In fact, religious subjects are not as
813
a rule popular in conversation.”
”Why, what reason can there be for that?”
Thorwald inquired with eager interest.
”Oh, there is too much indiﬀerence in
the matter,” I replied. ”I suppose most men
do not think their relations to their Maker
important enough to give them any con-
cern. And even the best among us shrink
from urging their opinions on others, partly
814
because they know they are not perfect ex-
amples themselves, and also from the feel-
ing that their friends are intelligent beings
and ought to know, as well as they do, what
is best for them.”
”Oh, then, my dear Doctor,” said Thor-
wald, ”I perceive that I have committed a
breach of etiquette in forcing this subject
upon you, and in asking you to put your-
815
self in the way of receiving spiritual impres-
sions.”
”In the circumstances, I think you are
excusable,” replied the doctor; ”and, be-
sides, I believe I introduced the topic.”
”If you stay long with us,” resumed Thor-
wald, ”you will become accustomed to reli-
gious conversation, for here there is entire
freedom in such matters. Our spiritual ex-
816
periences and the great possibilities of the
future state are exceedingly pleasant things
to talk about, we think, and we feel no more
sensitiveness in doing it than in conversing
on the ordinary aﬀairs of life. Being re-
lieved of so many of the cares pertaining to
your existence, our minds are the more pre-
pared to occupy themselves with these high
themes, and what is more natural than that
817
we should often like to speak to each other
about them? As these things become more
real to you and the necessity of spending
so much time in caring for the body dimin-
ishes, you will gradually lose your present
feeling. You will also ﬁnd that, in making
these subjects familiar, they need not lose
dignity and you need not lose reverence.”
”Thorwald,” asked the doctor, ”could
818
you not give us a brief sketch of your ca-
reer, so that we may compare it with that
of our race?”
”I will do the best I can,” answered Thor-
wald. ”I think that is a good suggestion,
and after that is done any of us can tell
you the history of diﬀerent epochs as op-
portunity oﬀers. You are both such good
listeners that it is a pleasure to talk to you,
819
but I want you to promise to interrupt me
with questions whenever you wish anything
more fully explained.”
We promised to do so, and Thorwald
began:
”Our world is very old. The geologic for-
mations tell us of a time when no life could
exist–long ages of convulsion and change in
the crust of the globe. In time the conﬂict of
820
the elements subsided and the boundaries
between land and water were established.
Then came vegetable life, rank and abun-
dant, preparing stores of coal and oil for
use in the far future. Animals followed, the
ﬁrst forms crude and monstrous, but suc-
ceeded by others better adapted to be the
contemporaries and companions of our race.
”The planet was now ready for its des-
821
tiny, and it was put into the hands of in-
telligent beings, made in the image of their
Creator. This race started in the highest
conceivable state, perfect in body, mind,
and spirit. The material world was soon
subdued to their use, and paradise reigned
below. We do not know how long this condi-
tion lasted, but in some way sin entered and
all was changed. Sorrow and death came,
822
and a thousand ills to vex us. Another pe-
riod passed, and the race had become so
wicked that it could not be allowed to ex-
ist. A pestilence swept over the world, and
all but one tribe perished. Through this
remnant the world was repeopled, but sin
and woe remained, to be driven out at last
only by a struggle too great for the arm of
ﬂesh alone.
823
”But the conﬂict began in hope, a hope
inspired by the voice of God. From the very
entrance of sin help from above had been
promised in the person of one who should
conquer evil, and through whom the race
might be restored to a much higher posi-
tion even than that from which it had fallen.
Slowly the spirit of good, which is the spirit
of God, worked upon the heart, and in all
824
ages there were some who walked in that
spirit. By one such soul God raised up a
people to whom he committed his message
to the race, and through whom, at a later
day, he fulﬁlled the promise. Among this
people there arose many faithful ones, and
by them, from time to time, God added to
his message, acting as the personal guide
and defender of his people, and leading them
825
by every path until they ﬁnally knew him,
in every ﬁber of their being, to be the only
God.
”Prophets, too, there were among them,
who, under divine guidance, foretold a time
of universal peace, when the kingdom of
Christ should come in all hearts and when
even the beasts of the ﬁeld should dwell to-
gether in unity.”
826
”Why, we have just such prophecies,”
said I, ”but they are generally interpreted
ﬁguratively. Do you really think they will
be literally fulﬁlled on the earth?”
”Well,” answered Thorwald, ”I have al-
ready told you what has come to pass here,
and I will leave you to judge from our expe-
rience as to what will come of the prophe-
cies that have been made to you. From all
827
you have said at one time and another, I
can see plenty of evidence that the earth is
traveling the same road with us, and I have
no doubt it will one day reach even a higher
condition than the one we now enjoy.
”At length, when the time was ripe, God
sent the promised Saviour. He, the Lord of
heaven, came and lived as one of us. He
gathered around him a few faithful souls,
828
he preached his gospel of light and comfort
to the poor, and wept over the very woes
he had come down to remove. His humility
proved a stumbling-block to the selﬁshness
of the world, and his own nation rejected
him. He conquered death and returned to
his Father’s home, but his spirit, which had
always been present in some measure, now
came with force, and began, through his fol-
829
lowers, the task of regenerating the race.
”A feeble church, planted thus amid sin
and darkness, took deep root in loyal hearts,
grew strong with persecution, and soon kin-
dled a light which pierced the darkness and
gradually spread its illumination over all
our planet. The history of that church is
the history of our development. The race
has not come so far toward its maturity
830
without a mighty struggle. The long course
of preparation for the present higher con-
dition has had many interruptions and ob-
structions. There have been dark ages of
stagnation and threatened defeat, and there
have been ages of hope and advancement.
Through all this history the light of the
gospel, though often obscured, has never
been extinguished, and every step of progress
831
that has been made in our condition is to be
traced directly to that light. We have not
always been able to realize that; but, now
that we understand more fully our wonder-
ful career, we see how true it is that we have
been led by a divine hand.”
”Do you mean,” I asked, ”that your vast
improvement in material aﬀairs has come
through Christianity?”
832
”Certainly,” answered Thorwald. ”Our
civilization has walked hand in hand with
true religion, and in all ages every perma-
nent advance in our condition has come through
the inﬂuence of the spirit of good, which
is always urging us to a higher and better
state. In our progress many mistakes have
been made, with consequences so serious as
to threaten at the time our ﬁnal defeat; but
833
a higher power has led us through all our
troubles to a place of safety, where we can
survey with gratitude the ﬁeld of conﬂict.
If you so desire, I can relate to you at an-
other time some of the mistakes which have
at times set us back in our march toward a
physical and spiritual superiority.”
We were pleased to notice by this last
remark of Thorwald’s that he had still in
834
reserve many things to tell us, and we so
expressed ourselves to him.
CHAPTER XXII.
AGAIN THE MOON.
Days passed and brought no news of Mona.
I did all in my power to appear cheerful,
835
but often made a dismal failure of it. No
one could help me, and Thorwald, though
sympathetic like all the rest, would allow
me no false hopes. He said a systematic
and thorough search had been made, both
on land and water, without result, and he
could see no prospect of any success in the
future. But, while I could see that Thor-
wald was about ready to abandon in despair
836
the attempt to ﬁnd Mona, I would not give
up hope. I did not know at the time what
excellent reasons Thorwald had for his feel-
ing, for I did not realize how very complete
the search had been, but my own faith was
not founded on reason. I simply refused to
believe that I should never see again the
object of such deep love.
While aﬀairs were in this condition, Thor-
837
wald said to us one morning:
”I wonder you have not been more anx-
ious to see one of our ﬂying machines. Our
system of aerial navigation is one of the
most enjoyable of our material blessings,
and I shall take great pleasure in giving you
a taste of it.”
”I think one reason,” I answered, ”why
we have not asked about it is because we
838
have had so many other interesting things
to see, and then you know we had our share
of traveling in the air in coming to you.
However, we shall be delighted to see your
method at any time when you are pleased
to exhibit it.”
”Very well,” said Thorwald; ”then we
will get up an expedition at once. Zenith
and Avis will accompany us, I think; and
839
as we shall probably fall in with Foedric,
we will send for Antonia to go also.”
”That will make a pleasant party,” I said.
We found all were glad to go and witness
our introduction to a modern air ship, and
we were soon oﬀ.
Not far from the house we found a lux-
urious carriage of just the right size for us
all. We did not see another like it anywhere
840
about, and I was moved to ask:
”How does it happen, Thorwald, that
exactly the kind of conveyance you want is
ready without any prearrangement? This
sort of carriage does not appear to be very
plentiful.”
”Things generally ’happen,’ as you call
it, for our convenience,” he said. ”Is it not
so with you to some extent? If all the people
841
wanted to travel in your cars on the same
day and at the same hour, they could not
easily be accommodated, but some dispen-
sation divides them up so that there are, I
presume, about the same number who ﬁnd
it necessary or convenient to travel each
day. This subject has been studied by us,
and we believe that even these details of
our lives are all arranged by him to whom
842
nothing is small, nothing great.”
A pleasant ride of a few miles brought
us to a seaport, and to a scene of much
activity. It seemed to be a great distribut-
ing point, as numerous loads of many kinds
of goods were moving about, and immense
stores of fruit and vegetables were to be
seen. These products of the soil were of
bewildering variety and surpassing richness,
843
showing us that agriculture, providing most
of the food of the people, must be a favorite
science with many, and one that brought
rich rewards. It was pleasing to see every-
thing going on in such a quiet, orderly man-
ner, and so many people at work without
friction and with no look of fret, hurry, or
fatigue. Everyone seemed to be enjoying
his work, if that could be called work which
844
looked so much like pleasure.
After riding through several busy streets
we drew near an imposing structure, which
Thorwald told us was the front of the aerial
station. At the same time he directed our
attention to the sky, and we saw a number
of air ships sailing leisurely along, some just
starting out and others apparently return-
ing home. The doctor and I had our inter-
845
est quickened by this sight and were anxious
for a closer view. As the fact of riding in
the air was not new to us, we had not been
much excited by the prospect of seeing how
the Martians did it. But these ships were
so diﬀerent from anything we had ever seen
before that we began to anticipate a great
deal from our excursion after all.
Going through the building, we came
846
into an immense court or open space, large
enough, one would suppose, for the ﬂeets
of a nation. Here were a great number of
ﬂying machines of various sizes, all gayly
decorated with pleasing colors, and many
of them, apparently, waiting for passengers.
Thorwald selected one of medium size, and
as we approached, whom should we ﬁnd in
charge but our young friend Foedric? In an-
847
swer to Thorwald’s question, he told us that
both he and his vessel were at our service,
and we proceeded to mount to our seats in
the car.
Foedric pulled a small lever, and we be-
gan to rise. He then expressed his pleasure
to the doctor and me that he had the oppor-
tunity of making our further acquaintance.
”We are taking them for the ride,” said
848
Thorwald, ”and you may choose any course
and go to any height you please.”
We thanked Foedric for his pleasant words,
and then he showed us about the car and
explained its conveniences. It was quite
large, with a number of apartments and
accommodations suﬃcient for a dozen peo-
ple both day and night. Besides the ordi-
nary furnishings for comfortable living, we
849
saw air-condensing machines for use in lofty
ﬂights, a good-sized telescope, instruments
for measuring speed and height, and other
scientiﬁc apparatus of much of which we
were obliged to ask the use.
Although Foedric was so much younger
than Thorwald, he was taller and larger ev-
ery way–a magniﬁcent specimen of a mag-
niﬁcent race. In speaking to Thorwald he
850
showed a proper respect for his greater age,
and he bore himself becomingly in the pres-
ence of Zenith; but there was not the slight-
est sign of subserviency, nor anything to
show that, though engaged in what might
be called a lowly occupation, he was not on
terms of perfect equality and even friend-
ship with them. This easy poise of manner
would not have surprised us had we known
851
what Thorwald soon told us, and from this
experience we learned never to judge a Mar-
tian by the work he happened to be doing.
”Foedric is a scholar,” said Thorwald,
”and is engaged just now in writing a trea-
tise on the color of sounds.”
This announcement was a double sur-
prise, for we would have said, if he was
writing anything, that it must be something
852
about ballooning–the application of electric-
ity to ﬂying machinery, perhaps. But Thor-
wald further enlightened us, the talk going
on in Foedric’s presence:
”He was attracted to that subject by
the fact that he possesses in a striking de-
gree the faculty of hearing color, which be-
longs only to reﬁned minds. We all have
this power to some extent, but in this, as in
853
so many other things, there are great dif-
ferences among us. As an example of this
power, if you will excuse me, Doctor, I will
tell you that your voice is dark blue, while
yours,” he continued, turning to me, ”is yel-
low. Foedric, a true son of Mars, speaks
red, and as for Zenith, her soft, pink voice
has always been to me one of her princi-
pal charms, and though it would be folly
854
to deny that she has changed some in ap-
pearance (not for the worse, however) since
I ﬁrst knew her, her voice has retained the
same tone or color. I will ask Foedric if I
am correct in my impressions.”
”Quite correct,” answered Foedric. ”When
I ﬁrst heard your friend, the doctor, speak
I thought his voice was brown, but it has
changed since to such an extent that I think
855
as you do–that the prevailing tinge is a deep
blue. Such cases are not unknown among
us, but they are not frequent.”
”If the color of my voice sympathizes
with my thoughts,” said the doctor, ”I do
not wonder that your quick ears have no-
ticed a change.”
”I ought to say,” resumed Foedric, ”that
I have to rely on my friends to tell me the
856
shade of my own voice, for to my ears it is
as colorless as a piece of the clearest glass,
and this is the common experience.”
”I would like to ask about the color of
Antonia’s voice,” I said, ”and Avis’s, too.”
”Antonia’s is a beautiful green,” answered
Foedric, looking with a smile at the fair one,
”and Avis, both in song and speech, has
your color– yellow.”
857
”Foedric,” said Thorwald, ”tell our friends
what you and others are trying to discover
in connection with the air vibrations. It
may be suggestive to them.”
”I can claim but little part in the work,”
Foedric responded, ”but it is this. Our ears
report to our brain the air waves until they
reach a frequency of forty thousand in a sec-
ond, and we call the sensation sound. When
858
the vibrations of the ether are more rapid
than that, we have no sense with which
to receive the impression until they reach
the great number of four hundred million
millions in a second. Then they aﬀect the
eye and produce red light, and as they in-
crease still more the color becomes orange,
then yellow, green, blue, and violet. Per-
haps your limitations are not the same as
859
ours, but our scientists are trying to dis-
cover some means by which we can arrest
and make use of a small part at least of
those waves which strike our bodies at a
frequency between forty thousand and four
hundred million millions. It is still an un-
solved problem, this search for another sense,
and we are now looking forward for help in
the task to the studies of the civilization
860
represented in our comet.”
All this time we were rising slowly but
hardly realizing it, being ﬁlled with that pe-
culiar sensation, incident to balloon jour-
neys, by which we could almost believe we
were remaining about in the same place and
the solid ground was falling away from us.
Now Foedric increased our speed and
showed us how easily he could sail in any di-
861
rection and at any rate he pleased, explain-
ing to us the mechanism by which we were
upheld and propelled, and also the way in
which the current of electricity was gener-
ated and applied. They certainly had a
wonderful method of producing great power
with little weight, and the doctor eagerly
drank in the information in regard to it, as
if for future use.
862
It was charming. The atmosphere was
as clear as crystal, the air balmy and the
motion delightful, and if the Martians, with
their purer nature and keener senses, en-
joyed the trip that morning more than we
earth-dwellers did, then their capacity for
enjoyment must have been beyond ours. The
ship seemed to be under perfect control;
there was nothing uncertain in her move-
863
ments, and as we went sailing along with-
out fear of harm, in the very poetry of mo-
tion, the doctor and I realized over and over
again that we had much to learn in this
method of navigation.
Now we were riding at a good height,
and our vision could take in a wide expanse
of land and water. The peculiarity of the
surface of Mars was noticeable, the seas be-
864
ing long, narrow inlets, as it were, running
through or between winding strings of land,
a decided contrast to the great oceans and
noble continents of our mother earth. It
seemed to me that this was much to the
advantage of the earth, and so I was bold
enough to say:
”When I used to look at a map of Mars,
Thorwald, I remember thinking that the
865
planet was not a handsome one, whatever
might be the character of its inhabitants.
But I have no doubt you have an answer
for me which will give some good reason for
the peculiar structure of the surface of Mars
and make me ashamed of my sentimental
preference for the earth.”
”I certainly hope you will hear nothing
while you are with us to make you ashamed
866
of your own planet,” said Thorwald; ”but I
must tell you the truth in regard to Mars.
How do you like our climate, as far as you
have experienced it?”
”We have enjoyed it exceedingly,” I an-
swered, ”and I have been on the point of
remarking several times that we were fortu-
nate in making our visit here at so pleasant
a season of the year.”
867
”But,” said Thorwald, ”you could not
have come in a worse season, for we have
none worse than this. The temperature varies
enough to give variety, hut not enough in
either direction to cause discomfort. Each
season is quite distinctive from the others,
but each has its peculiar charm and all are
equally enjoyable. Our telescopes tell us it
is not so on the earth, for we can see the
868
winter snow creep well down on its surface
and remain there several months, then go
away and come on the other hemisphere.
We know this means great changes of cli-
mate, and as the inclination of the axis of
the earth to the plane of its orbit is about
the same as that of the axis of Mars, we be-
lieve we would have equally violent changes
were it not for the fortunate distribution of
869
land and water on our planet. All those
narrow seas which disﬁgure our surface in
your eyes, are in reality vast rivers, which
are constantly bearing the water from one
part of the globe to another. The warm wa-
ter of the equatorial regions is carried to the
cold countries north and south, and the wa-
ter thus displaced cools in its turn the lands
more directly under the sun. Thus the tem-
870
perature of all parts is nearly equalized. In
the summer in this latitude the water that
washes our shores is cool and in the winter
it is warm, and the strips of land are so nar-
row that all places feel the inﬂuence, mak-
ing the climate delightful everywhere. At
each pole there is a spot of perpetual snow,
but these are comparatively small, and the
ﬁelds are cultivated right up to the foot of
871
the snow hills.”
This recital excited the doctor’s interest
amazingly, and as Thorwald closed he said:
”I rather think my companion did not
expect so complete an answer, but I am
glad his words suggested to you this state-
ment, Thorwald. It is of great value to us in
our study of your remarkable planet. How
wonderfully God has adapted everything to
872
your comfort and well-being!”
Thorwald smiled in appreciation of the
doctor’s ﬁnal words, but before he had time
to speak we were a little startled by the red
voice of Foedric, calling out:
”The moon! Look!”
It was nothing new for any of us now
to look at our old moon. We had seen it
almost every day, had talked much about
873
it, and thought the novelty of its compan-
ionship to Mars about worn oﬀ. But our
present high position and the clear, thin
atmosphere gave it quite a changed appear-
ance, as it was slowly coming into view above
the horizon. We watched it in silence for
a while and saw it mount the eastern sky,
and I think all of us except Foedric had the
same thought, that it appeared to be much
874
nearer than usual. Foedric had seen it be-
fore from the same height, and knew when
he called our attention to it that we were
going to be surprised.
As the moon rose still higher it appeared
to be coming toward us, instead of aiming
at a point far over our heads, and our next
sensation was caused by Zenith, who mildly
exclaimed:
875
”It cannot be more than a few miles
away. Why not go and make it a visit?”
To her surprise, if people of such high
endowments ever are surprised, Thorwald
asked quickly:
”Are you willing to try it if the rest of
us are?”
”Certainly,” she replied.
”Foedric,” said Thorwald, ”what do you
876
say to ﬂying out to the moon and attempt-
ing an invasion of it?”
”I say,” answered Foedric, ”that I am
ready. We have provisions enough for sev-
eral days, and I believe the capacity of our
battery is suﬃcient for the trip.” Thorwald
learned from Avis and Antonia that they
would not object to the trial, and then said:
”Well, we have a good majority, but must
877
not think of deciding on so important a step
unless the feeling is unanimous. Let us hear
from our friends here, who have had some
experience with the moon.”
The doctor said pleasantly that he should
like nothing better than the proposed ex-
periment, and, as I was the last, I remarked
that I could not spoil such an interesting
project by withholding my consent. But it
878
seemed to me all the time that the whole
thing was a joke and that it would end at
once in a laugh. I thought of the cold and
cheerless surface of the moon, comparing it
in my mind with the delectable world we
were leaving, and had no relish for the pro-
posed trip. Something of my feeling must
have been reﬂected in my countenance, for
Zenith, who had been looking at me, said
879
in a sympathetic tone:
”Although you gave your consent, you
look as if you did not enjoy the prospect of
another visit to the moon.”
Thorwald heard this remark, and after
a glance at me he said:
”You are right, Zenith, and I think we
will abandon the idea at once. We started
out today for the purpose of entertaining
880
the doctor and his friend, and it would not
become us to treat them to more of a ride
than they desire.”
”You are both excellent mind readers,”
I responded. ”And if I were as honest as
you Martians are, I suppose I should have
said in the ﬁrst place that I preferred not to
make such an extended journey. I suspect
the doctor is willing to go ahead, as he is too
881
sensible to be aﬀected by such a feeling as
now moves me. My thoughts turn back to
our departure from the earth in a balloon,
and I cannot rid my mind of the dreadful
fear that perhaps we are now unconsciously
bidding a long farewell to Mars.”
Thorwald thanked me for my frankness
and said they should certainly respect my
sentiment. He then stepped to Foedric’s
882
side to speak to him in regard to a change
of course. At that moment I looked at the
moon, which had been rapidly approach-
ing us. What was it that suddenly gave
it a deeper interest to me? A ﬂash of in-
telligence suﬀused my being like an elec-
tric shock, frilling my imagination with the
most beautiful vision and making the moon
appear to me now as the one desirable place
883
in all the universe.
”Thorwald,” I exclaimed, ”keep right on!
I want to go now. I have changed my mind.”
”Yes,” he responded, looking at me with
a pleased smile, ”and I see you have changed
your face, too. You look like quite another
man. Why this sudden transition?”
”Don’t you know? Mona is there.”
”Where?”
884
”In the moon, of course.”
”How do you know that? You seem to
be pretty conﬁdent.”
”Why, she must be there. You couldn’t
ﬁnd her on land or water, and you know
you have no accidents in Mars, so she could
not have come to any harm there. I know
we shall ﬁnd her in the moon. She must
have been left behind in some way when
885
the doctor and I were thrown oﬀ, and now
she is no doubt expecting us to come back
to her. Oh, let us make haste.”
”Well,” answered Thorwald, ”we were
only waiting your consent, and we can now
keep on as we are going and try to reach
the moon. But I must give you a friendly
warning not to let your hope get the better
of your judgment in regard to ﬁnding your
886
friend.”
With this Thorwald and Foedric con-
sulted a moment, and at once our speed in-
creased till we were ﬂying at a fearful rate,
but none too fast for me. I knew now why I
had been so reluctant to go so far away from
Mars. It was because I thought Mona was
there; but now, with my present opinion,
the moon had suddenly changed its charac-
887
ter and become to my imagination a bright
and beautiful world. To such a degree does
love transform the most unlovely objects.
I was struck with the easy way in which
Zenith had accepted the result of what I
thought her sportive suggestion, and, not
being able to fathom her thoughts, I said
to her:
”When we left home, this morning, you
888
did not expect to be gone over night. Have
you no anxiety about the house and the
children?”
”Oh, no,” she replied; ”the house will
not run away, nor the children either. We
do not often stay away from them over night,
but we do not hesitate to do so when we
have a good reason for it. Our children
know us well enough to be sure we have such
889
a reason now, and this faith in us and in our
safe return will permit us to stay away as
long as we please. As for our feelings, we
have no such thing as anxiety, for all our
experience teaches us that no harm of any
kind can come to our loved ones. I suppose
in such circumstances on the earth both
the mother and the children would have
a feeling of great fear, caused by the fact
890
that there would be in reality some dan-
ger of harm, but here we have never heard
of such a thing, and even the word ’dan-
ger’ has little meaning in it to us, because
all we know about it comes from our read-
ing.” The moon was now well above us, and
we were making for a point in the west-
ern sky where Foedric hoped to intercept
it. We were already so far from the planet
891
that the air was getting weak, so we all put
on breathing machines. These were of such
perfect construction that our lungs had free
play, nor were they cumbersome enough to
interfere much with our movements.
By this time the moon had grown so
vastly, owing to our swift traveling, that our
friends began to be amazed at its enormous
proportions. The jagged, mountainous sur-
892
face was plainly visible, a most uninviting
place for people accustomed to the serene
beauty and felicity of the planet Mars.
”Remember,” said the doctor, ”that you
are not to judge the earth by what you see
of her old satellite.”
”Well,” answered Thorwald, ”we mean
to see what we can of the satellite. Foedric,
let us point the glass at it and be selecting
893
a place to land.”
But Foedric was obliged to let Thorwald
handle the glass alone, for his attention was
needed just now to manage our craft. He
had discovered that shutting oﬀ the power
did not diminish the speed, and for a mo-
ment he was puzzled, quite a new sensation
for a Martian of that era. But he soon stud-
ied out the diﬃculty and made the following
894
announcement:
”I ﬁnd this huge mass that we are ap-
proaching is pulling us toward its surface,
so that we are using but little power. I ex-
pect in a short time we can merely fall to
its surface.”
This suggested to Thorwald the very trou-
ble that the doctor and I had encountered
with our balloon, and he asked Foedric if we
895
could get away again after we had dropped
to the moon.
”Yes,” Foedric answered, ”I am sure we
have power enough here to overcome the at-
traction and get away whenever we please.”
Thorwald, who had been intently study-
ing the surface through the telescope, now
spoke out with some excitement in his voice:
”Doctor, I begin to think you did not
896
make a thorough investigation of the moon’s
condition. Did you not report it practically
uninhabited?”
”Our means of investigation were rather
limited,” replied the doctor, ”but we surely
found no inhabitants except poor Mona, whom,
I am conﬁdent, we shall never see again.
Why do you ask? Are there any signs of
life visible? I have no doubt you Martians
897
can see more at this distance than we could
when standing on the globe itself.”
”Well,” Thorwald answered, ”either you
reached wrong conclusions or else a race has
grown up there pretty rapidly. I cannot
make out anything deﬁnite yet, but there
is smoke, I am sure, and I can see some ob-
ject moving about.”
I had great diﬃculty in restraining my
898
feelings as Thorwald uttered these words,
but neither he nor the doctor seemed to
realize what signiﬁcance they had for me.
Both had apparently given up all expecta-
tion of ﬁnding Mona anywhere, and these
evidences of life, so plain to me, were there-
fore inexplicable to them. I controlled my-
self and begged Thorwald to let me look
through the glass. He adjusted it for me,
899
but before I could get a satisfactory view
our swift motion made such a change in
the appearance of the surface that Thor-
wald could not ﬁnd the same spot again.
As no one said a word to indicate any
thought of connecting Mona with the move-
ments that Thorwald had observed, I de-
termined that I would keep quiet also and
await the result of our landing. I let my
900
thoughts ﬂy to my love, who, without doubt,
had seen the approach of our air ship and
was expecting our speedy arrival. What an
addition she would make to our party, and
how these Martians would study her history
as she recounted it in that exquisite voice.
But I should claim a large share of her time
for myself. How glad I was to think that
Foedric had so openly shown his aﬀection
901
for Antonia. Surely I need not harbor the
jealous feeling that would arise, for so true
a son of Mars could not fall to the level of
some earthly men, and be unfaithful to so
noble a girl as Antonia. It was beyond all
reason, and yet my love for Mona, whom
I thought we were soon to ﬁnd, was such
that I undesignedly but still unmistakably
made up my mind to keep a close watch on
902
handsome Foedric.
CHAPTER XXIII.
WE SEARCH FOR MONA.
We were indeed approaching the sur-
face with great rapidity, and Foedric was
obliged to put on power to prevent us from
903
falling too swiftly. Fortunately he was able
to keep our ship under perfect management,
and so, without accident or even a shock,
he brought us gently to land, not far from
the spot where Thorwald had seen the signs
of life. It was something new for the lat-
ter to show so much curiosity, but he could
not be more eager than I was to attempt
to ﬁnd out what we had seen through the
904
telescope. So, leaving the rest of the party,
we two started out to investigate. It was
kind of Thorwald to take me along, because
he could ordinarily walk a great deal faster
without me, but my love and hope now added
wings to my feet and I surprised him with
my agility.
Thorwald’s skill in determining locality
enabled him to choose the right direction,
905
and after quite a walk we ascended a con-
siderable hill, from which we were delighted
to discover in the distance a small column
of smoke–a remarkable sight on that ster-
ile shore. We hastened toward it, Thorwald
with high expectations of an important dis-
covery, and I with a heart beating with joy-
ful anticipations of a diﬀerent character.
As we approached the spot of such in-
906
tense interest for us both, I watched my
companion closely to see how he would bear
the disappointment which I felt sure awaited
him; and this, I think, made it a little eas-
ier for me to endure my own grief, for, of
course, I was disappointed, too. I ought to
have known better than to expect to ﬁnd
Mona out on the bleak surface, when she
had such a comfortable home inside the moon.
907
What we found at the end of our journey
was merely another party of Martians, who
had stolen a march on us and made a prior
invasion of the moon. But so unselﬁsh were
they that when they saw our ship afar oﬀ
they began to make a smudge and smoke
in order to attract our attention and give
us the opportunity of sharing with them
the glory of their anticipated discoveries.
908
They were pleased with our success in ﬁnd-
ing them, and proposed that we join our
forces in a common camp. So, leaving me,
Thorwald returned for the rest of our party,
and in due time we were all together, con-
versing on the footing of old acquaintances.
The moon had improved somewhat since we
knew it, as everything must which remains
in the vicinity of the planet Mars, but it
909
was not yet, as far as the outside, at least,
was concerned, a desirable place for a long
sojourn.
Our new friends had, unlike us, started
from home with the intention of making the
attempt to land on the moon, and, having
come prepared with tools for a little sci-
entiﬁc work, had already begun investigat-
ing, with a view to ﬁnding out whether the
910
moon contained any vestiges of life. They
had heard of the doctor and me and the
outlines of our story, but now we had to
relate to them in detail all our experience
on the moon, while I concluded my part of
the narration with the statement of my ﬁrm
conviction that Mona was still in her quiet
refuge, waiting for us to return and rescue
her. This interested them exceedingly, and
911
they were eager to join us in searching for
her.
The members of our party, catching some-
thing of my hope, were ready to enter at
once upon this task, and it was decided to
divide all our forces into two companies, one
to be led by the doctor and the other by me,
and then to start in diﬀerent directions to
try to ﬁnd the entrance to that long passage
912
into the interior. As we knew not on what
part of the moon’s surface we had alighted,
we were undertaking a bold piece of work,
but its apparent diﬃculty had no terrors for
the Martians, and I should not have hesi-
tated if the circumference of the moon had
been a hundred times what it was. As for
the doctor, he had too much spirit to sug-
gest any obstacles.
913
We arranged a code of signals, and agreed
that if either party were successful the other
should be notiﬁed and the descent made
only when all had come together. After di-
viding the provisions we made our adieus
and separated, not knowing when we should
see one another again.
But, fortunately, our elaborate prepa-
rations were not of much use, for before we
914
had been out an hour the doctor signaled to
me that he had found some familiar land-
marks. This meant that he was sure of dis-
covering what we were in search of, and ac-
cordingly we started at once to rendezvous
with his company. On our arrival I rec-
ognized, with exultant joy, the features of
the landscape which had attracted the doc-
tor’s attention. We now led the way with
915
complete assurance, and came at length to
the crater down whose side Mona had so
strangely led us. The wind was not so strong
now, but I was none the less eager to de-
scend and enter that dark way, at the other
end of which such happiness awaited me.
By this time, also, the whole party were be-
coming enthused over the situation. When
they came to see, one after another, features
916
which they had heard us describe, they ac-
quired a personal interest which had been
impossible before, and everyone began to
share my faith in regard to Mona.
As we entered the tunnel, the doctor
and myself still in the lead, I called Avis
and asked her to keep as near me as possi-
ble.
”I am ﬂattered,” she said, ”but what do
917
you want to have me do?”
”Sing,” I answered.
”What for? You needn’t be afraid of the
dark, for we can give you light enough.”
And at that instant out ﬂashed half a
dozen lamps from diﬀerent members of the
party, a timely illustration of the use of
their portable electricity.
”No, Avis,” I said, ”I am not afraid, but
918
I would like to recall something of the sensa-
tion of our ﬁrst descent into the moon, when
we were led, as you know, by the sound of
beautiful music. And then, as we near the
end, Mona may hear you, and that would be
a more gentle introduction than if we should
burst upon her unannounced. I know she is
not subject to fear or the usual emotions to
which I have been accustomed on the earth,
919
but still I think she would like to have us
come back to her heralded by your noble
song.”
Seeing how serious I was in the mat-
ter, Avis promised to do as I wished, only
suggesting that all the rest should join her
from time to time. So, without any unpleas-
ant incident, we traversed the long passage,
walking rapidly by the aid of the light and
920
conversing about our interesting situation.
It was a rare and pleasing experience for
the doctor and me to be showing these wise
Martians something new, and we enjoyed
the novel sensation of watching their ex-
citement. The fact that we could so sat-
isfactorily entertain our friends after their
own fashion with us was something long to
be remembered.
921
But not another one of all the company
had the intensity of feeling which ﬁlled my
breast. Knowing that every downward step
was leading me rapidly toward a determi-
nation of my fate, I could scarcely control
my emotions. Either I was soon to ﬁnd
my heart’s life and be raised to the highest
pinnacle of happiness, or I was to undergo
a disappointment from which I might not
922
recover. For if Mona was not here, where
could I look for her? Could I ever regain
my hopeful spirits if I should lose her now?
I tried to crowd out these dark forebodings
by thinking of my love and trying to picture
the scene in the midst of which we should
discover her.
At length we were drawing near the end.
The path was growing wider, which proved
923
to the doctor and me that we should soon
emerge into the open village. Indeed, a
faint gleam of light was beginning to be
seen far in the front. We now pushed on
more rapidly, and as we approached the exit
Avis was singing at her highest pitch. She
stopped suddenly, and then a low and dis-
tant strain came to us, sweet even to the
ears of our cultured friends from Mars. My
924
heart beat wildly as Thorwald, who was
close behind us, exclaimed:
”Hark, hear the echo!”
”Ho!” I cried, ”that’s not an echo. That’s
the original, and Avis is the echo. Sing out
again, Avis.”
A loud, clear note trembled on the air,
and brought back to our straining sense, not
a repetition of itself but a snatch of varied
925
melody which showed it to be no echo, al-
though evidently an answer. There have
been few moments in my life more crowded
with happiness than that one. And it was
not a passive feeling of enjoyment, but one
that spurred me to action. The swift pace
which we had all by this time reached was
now too slow for me. Seized again by the
same ﬁerce passion which took possession
926
of me at my ﬁrst acquaintance with Mona’s
voice, I started in her direction on a run,
ﬂinging aside everything that might impede
me, so overmastered was I by my desire to
see her.
But my unreasonable haste brought me
a grievous reward. I leaped over the ground
with great rapidity for a few minutes, and
then, stepping on a treacherous stone, turned
927
my ankle and fell heavily to the ground, my
head, thrust forward in running, being the
ﬁrst point of contact with the cruel rocks.
I returned to consciousness by degrees.
My faithful ears were, as usual, the ﬁrst
friends to renew acquaintance with me, and
the sound they brought was so soothing that
I wished for nothing more than to remain
as I was, ears only, and listen to it forever.
928
But this was impossible, as I was slowly re-
covering my other senses and becoming a
thinking being once more. I now recognized
the pleasant sound as the music of a familiar
voice; yes, it was Mona’s voice in conversa-
tion. I was sure of that, but it seemed so
natural that I was not startled. I felt that
I must remain perfectly quiet, or the spell
would be broken and the music cease. Then
929
I began to wonder where I was and who
were with me. I recalled the circumstances
of our descent into the moon and my fall
as I was running to meet Mona. My mind
was active, but I feared that I was physi-
cally weak, for I did not seem to have even
a desire to move. I wanted to see the face of
the dear girl, and it is remarkable that I did
not open my eyes at once and call her by
930
name. But I was not in a natural state. The
feeling was not suﬃciently strong to move
me to action. I was just conscious enough
to be passively happy, content to lie there
quietly and enjoy one thing at a time.
Hitherto I had not tried to distinguish
the words, so satisﬁed was I with the exquisite
tones, but now my attention was compelled
by this yellow expression:
931
”So I understand you to say he would
not give me up as lost?”
It was the pink voice of Zenith that an-
swered:
”No, indeed. He never faltered in his
faith that you would be found. You owe it
to him that you can soon leave this worn-
out world with us, and we are indebted to
him for giving us such a dear friend.”
932
”And he admired my singing?” said Mona
in a questioning tone.
”Yes, and everything pertaining to you.
He never tired of rehearsing your perfec-
tions, and the doctor tells us he loved you
from the very ﬁrst. He certainly seems most
devoted to you. I hope, my dear, that you
love him.”
I was now recovered enough to feel some
933
compunctions about listening further to this
conversation, but that is not saying that I
had any great desire to stop listening. I
knew that in Mona’s answer to Zenith’s im-
plied question lay my fate, and my moral
doubts were not strong enough to make me
do anything to keep it back. It has been
said on the earth that people who surrepti-
tiously hear themselves spoken of are never
934
pleased, but things must be quite diﬀerent
inside the moon, for, without a shadow of
hesitation and in the sweetest air that ever
ﬂoated from her lips, came Mona’s answer:
”Love him? Certainly I love him. Why
should I not? I loved him when he was here
before, and I should be very ungrateful if I
did not care a great deal more for him when
I know what he has done for me, and that
935
he now lies here suﬀering for my sake.”
”Oh, Mona,” I said to myself, ”if this be
suﬀering, let me never know happiness.”
Zenith began to speak again, when she
was interrupted by the opening of a door. I
heard someone walk towards me, and then
the doctor’s voice broke the silence.
”How is he, Mona? Is there any change?”
”No,” replied my beloved, ”he hasn’t
936
stirred nor shown a sign of consciousness.
Cannot something more be done for him?”
I was becoming a little hardened in my
guilt by this time, and, although my strength
seemed now to be returning to me, I de-
cided to keep still yet longer and hear what
words of wisdom the doctor would utter on
my case.
”I know of nothing that can be done,”
937
he said. ”He received no injury except the
wound on his head, and that, apparently, is
not serious. Time is the great healer in such
cases. My chief fear is that when he recov-
ers consciousness we will ﬁnd his memory
is defective, as it was after his plunge into
your ocean, Zenith. He will doubtless for-
get how we ever got into this strange place,
and I am almost sure he will not recognize
938
Mona, for that was the direction in which
he failed before.”
”But you forget,” said Zenith, ”that Mona
herself will be here to sing for him.”
”I fear not even that will recall his wan-
dering wits this time. You know he is more
badly hurt than before. I dislike to cause
you pain, Mona, but I must be frank and
tell you that our friend will probably never
939
know you again.”
One would naturally expect Mona to have
burst into tears at this hopeless prospect,
but instead of that she sang out, as joyously
as ever:
”Never mind me, Doctor. Only restore
him to health and happiness, and it will be
of little moment whether he remembers me
or not. No one knows better than you do
940
that I am always happy, that’s why I am
singing all the time.”
Such unselﬁshness as this was more than
I could appreciate, and rather more, I thought,
than was called for by the circumstances.
How could she love me so, and still not care
if I never were to know her again? Was she
the same Mona, after all, who had so pro-
vokingly eluded my love during my former
941
visit? These reﬂections caused me to de-
cide to come to life, and claim her as mine
before she resigned all her interest in me.
So, opening my eyes and looking in her
face, I said, as quietly as possible:
”I do remember you, dear Mona, and
shall never forget you. Doctor, you see your
science has proved false again.”
”And glad indeed I am that it has,” he
942
rejoined, ”since it is so greatly to our ad-
vantage.”
Then they all gathered around me, and
called the others to a general rejoicing over
my sudden recovery. My physical injury
was but slight, and it was not long before
my stupor was entirely gone and I was mov-
ing about again. Aside from the ﬁnding of
Mona, many other things in this place of
943
her abode interested the diﬀerent members
of our party. All were jubilant over the new
opportunities for study and investigation,
and they promised themselves the pleasure
of many more visits to the place in the fu-
ture. They had now seen enough for once,
and all wanted to join in the agreeable task
of escorting Mona to Mars and introduc-
ing her there. So, without more delay, we
944
ascended to the surface once more, found
our air ships in good order, and soon sailed
away, leaving the moon without an inhabi-
tant.
Our friends from the antipodes landed
with us, and remained some days before
reembarking for home.
During our voyage down there was a
general agreement to give me plenty of op-
945
portunity to remain in Mona’s immediate
company, though no one seemed to think
we need feel at all embarrassed when our
conversation was overheard by others.
”Mona,” I said, ”were you glad to see
our relief party when they arrived?”
”I was indeed,” she replied, ”and yet I
was as happy as a bird, living there all by
myself and singing for my own amusement
946
the whole day long.”
”It is an astonishing thing to me,” I con-
tinued, ”that after the doctor and I had left
you so unceremoniously you could go back
to your lonely home and be happy there.”
”Why, did you think I would mourn for
you?”
”Well, yes, I think that would be natu-
ral, considering something I know.”
947
”Oh, I should like to hear what you know.”
”If I tell you, I shall have to make a
confession.”
”What is a confession, and how can you
make one? Have you anything to make it
of?”
”Oh, yes,” I replied, laughing. ”A con-
fession is an acknowledgment that one has
done something wrong, and should be made
948
to the person to whom the wrong has been
done.”
”Well,” said Mona, ”if that is it, I am
sure I shall never have to make one, for I
have never done anything wrong.”
This agreed so well with my conception
of her that I did not then take in the full
meaning of her words, but said in reply:
”But I have, and this is one thing when
949
you were talking to Zenith about me and
thought I was unconscious I was recovering,
and lay quite still so as to hear what you
said.”
”And did I say anything to displease
you?”
”No, indeed; you said you loved me, and
it made me very happy.”
”Oh, I remember now. Zenith said she
950
hoped I loved you, and I told her I did. I
have always loved you, of course, but I don’t
see how that can make you happy.”
”That’s singular,” I answered. ”I should
think you would understand my feeling from
your own. But never mind. You and I
will be lovers from this time forth, and give
the people of Mars an example of devotion
worth considering, will we not?”
951
”You do make the funniest speeches,”
she replied. ”I don’t know half the time
what you mean. But I am getting tired of
sitting so long. Here is Antonia. You talk
to her about love, and I’ll go over and see
Foedric.”
The lightness of her manner, when I was
so deeply in earnest, gave me a feeling of
uneasiness, which was increased when I saw
952
her easy, familiar way with Foedric and heard
her merry song as she chatted with him. I
was not very pleasant company for Anto-
nia, for I could not prevent a return of that
dreadful jealousy. I wondered if this was
always to be the history of my wooing–an
hour of the supremest happiness, followed
so speedily by a period of such anguish. I
could not possibly talk on any other sub-
953
ject, and so I said to Antonia:
”They seem well pleased with each other’s
society. Are you not afraid Foedric will lose
his heart to her?”
”My friend,” she replied, ”we never even
think of such things as that. I hope you are
not serious in asking the question.”
”Forgive me, Antonia,” I answered; ”I
hardly know what I am saying.”
954
And then I rose and followed Mona, and
said to her when I came near:
”Well, my dear, what do you and Foedric
ﬁnd so pleasant to talk about?”
”Why, you see,” she replied, ”Foedric
was the ﬁrst one to ﬁnd me after you were
hurt, and has been very kind to me since,
and I have just been telling him I love him.
You said it made you happy to hear me
955
say it to you, and I wanted to make him
happy too. And then I wanted to see if
Foedric would make such funny speeches as
you did.”
I controlled myself enough to ask:
”And what did Foedric say?”
”Why, his answer made me laugh more
than yours did. He said it would make you
unhappy to know I had said such a thing to
956
him. I replied that I would tell you myself,
and that you were always happy when I said
anything to you; and then you came up just
in time.”
”Now, Mona, do you think it is right to
make sport of such a serious matter?”
”I assure you I am in earnest in all I
have said.”
”Then are you trying to deceive Foedric?”
957
”Deceive him? What is that?”
”Telling him what isn’t true.”
”No, indeed. I would never do that.”
”It is true, then, that you love him?”
”Certainly it is; isn’t it, Foedric?”
I did not wait for Foedric to answer, but
continued:
”And still a short time ago you said you
loved me.”
958
”Well, is that any wonder, after what
you have done for me?”
”But do you love us both at once?”
”I do.”
”And do you love Foedric as much as
you do me?”
”Certainly. Why shouldn’t I? And now
let me ask you a question. Do you love me?”
”With all my heart.”
959
”Then why do you bother me so, ask-
ing all these questions, and saying things I
don’t understand? You appear to be sur-
prised to ﬁnd that I love Foedric. Why, I
love everybody. What am I going to do, if I
cannot love people as much as I want to?”
”You shall, Mona,” I replied, with a sud-
den softening of my heart toward her. ”I
was only going to suggest that, if you love
960
Foedric, Antonia may not like you so well.”
Foedric began to protest that Antonia
would not care, but Mona went right on
with:
”Another complication. What possible
diﬀerence could it make to Antonia?”
”Why, Antonia and Foedric love each
other, you know.”
”Oh, they love each other, and therefore
961
no one else can love either of them. Is that
it? But you have just been talking with
Antonia. Don’t you love her?”
”Oh, no,” I replied hastily. ”Or, at any
rate, not in the same way that I love you.”
”Not in the same way. That’s another
remark that I can’t see any sense in. I must
say for myself that I have but one way in
which to love, and that is with my whole
962
heart, without reserve or qualiﬁcation. I
cannot parcel out my love, a little to one,
a little more to another, and so on. It all
goes out to everyone. I couldn’t be happy
if I should try to restrain it. I think it must
be like this delicious sunlight, which I am
just beginning to enjoy, an equal comfort
to all who choose to partake of it. I love
you dearly. What can I do more? If I love
963
others, I am not robbing you–take all you
want, and then there will be just as much
left.”
”Mona,” I asked, as she ﬁnished, ”where
did you get such a heart? You are showing
me how utterly selﬁsh I have been.”
”Good-by,” she exclaimed; ”I am going
back to Antonia. May I love her?”
”You may love everybody,” I answered,
964
as she left me with an exquisite note on her
lips.
Foedric and I fell into conversation about
her. Foedric praised her to the skies, say-
ing that, if this were a fair specimen, the
inhabitants of the moon must have been a
remarkable people, and that it was unfor-
tunate that they had so nearly passed from
the stage.
965
When I found opportunity to think over
the situation I concluded that I had given
my heart to a peculiar being, and what had
I received in return? She loved me–that
was certain. But what kind of love was
this, which had no respect to persons? I
knew I could claim no exclusive right to the
least corner of her heart, and yet she said:
”All my heart is yours. What more can you
966
ask?” I was not able to solve the riddle of
her mysterious nature, but as I heard her
tuneful voice and watched her beautiful face
as she talked with Antonia, the very pic-
ture of innocent happiness, I realized with
great intensity that I loved her more than
ever. And I resolved to be patient, and try
to lead her gradually into the way of loving
which prevailed on the earth at the time we
967
left it.
In due time we landed on the ruddy
planet, and there was great diversion for us
all in seeing Mona’s continued astonishment
and in hearing her varied song.
It seemed almost like home to enter Thor-
wald’s house again, where we found every-
thing just as we had left it. The children did
not exhibit any astonishment at our long
968
absence, but were glad to see us back and
eager to hear about our adventures.
The next morning after our arrival Thor-
wald gave us a long ride in an electric car-
riage to show Mona the country. Returning,
we took her about the large house and were
all delighted to hear her naive remarks. At
length Zenith asked Thorwald if he could
not think of something that would interest
969
us all.
CHAPTER XXIV.
THE PICTURE TELEGRAPH.
”Let us step into the music room,” said
Thorwald. ”Doctor, what acquaintance have
you with the telephone?”
970
”We think we have brought the telephone
to a considerable degree of perfection,” said
the doctor. ”At ﬁrst it was rather crude,
and many preferred to forego its use in or-
der to escape its annoyances. But of recent
years great improvements have been made,
until its employment is now a pleasure, as
well as an essential help in our business and
social life.”
971
”Does it minister to any other sense than
the hearing?”
”It does not, although I have seen a vague
promise somewhere of an invention by which
we could see an image of the person we were
speaking to.”
”If that is all, I shall be able to give you
a pleasant surprise,” pursued Thorwald. ”Just
sit in those chairs, and do nothing but keep
972
your eyes open and listen.”
We saw him arrange a series of long pan-
els, in which were elegant mirrors, and then,
as he gently pulled an ivory knob, there
fell upon our ears, very faintly, like dis-
tant echoes, strains of the most delicious
music. Gradually the tones became louder
and more deﬁned, and Zenith, with a quick
smile and glance, directed our attention to
973
the opposite side of the room. There our
wondering eyes beheld the orchestra with
whose notes we were then enchanted. There
must have been a hundred players or more,
and we seemed to be looking upon them
from a distance which would bring the whole
group within the bounds of the room. It
was not a picture thrown on a screen, but
was as if the musicians were actually present.
974
Every motion made with their instruments
was in exact accord with the accompanying
note, and, wherever this orchestra might
have its local habitation, it was certainly
playing before our little audience that morn-
ing.
As the selection ended the scene faded
away under the manipulation of Thorwald,
and in a moment the room was ﬁlled with a
975
harmony of voices such as I had never heard
on the earth. And now the great chorus
appeared, crowding this time three sides of
the apartment and rising, tier on tier, to
the ceiling. We could see the glad faces of
the singers and knew how they must be en-
joying their work. Brilliant solo parts burst
out from one side and the other, and again
from the middle throng, but it was impos-
976
sible to tell from what individual singers
these notes came.
When this scene, too, had passed and
the music, all too soon, had ceased, Thor-
wald made haste to answer the inquiry he
saw in our faces by saying:
”These concerts are now being given in
two cities, both of them several thousand
miles east of here, so far that it is now af-
977
ternoon there. If we desire music after din-
ner this evening we can make connection
with some city west of us, and by going far-
ther west we can invoke sweet sounds to
soothe us to sleep. Being connected with
all the musical centers, you can see how, by
trying either one direction or the other, we
can have something worth hearing at any
hour of the day or night, with the players
978
and singers themselves employed, of course,
only in the daytime. We have daily pro-
grammes of every concert sent us by tele-
phone. They are received here, you see, and
printed automatically on these sheets.”
Zenith had watched us with eager in-
terest during this marvelous exhibition. It
was a novel experience, for they had never
before had the opportunity of showing this
979
perfected invention to those entirely igno-
rant of it, and they both enjoyed seeing the
pleasure which must have beamed from our
faces. I wanted to say something, but could
think of nothing ﬁt for the occasion, and
was relieved to hear the doctor speak:
”My good friends,” said he, ”do not try
to show us anything beyond this or we shall
lose our mental balance. I believe in fairy-
980
land now, for I have just come from there. I
never paid much attention to music on the
earth, and did not feel any shame for it ei-
ther, but I am now sure it will be to my
everlasting disgrace if I neglect it another
day.”
This speech pleased Zenith exceedingly,
and her emotion made her voice and man-
ner more charming than ever as she said:
981
”If you stay with us, Doctor, you shall
have plenty of good music, and you will
soon become not only a music lover but a
music maker, for every Martian is proﬁcient
in this art.”
”Do you think,” asked the doctor, ”that
there is the faintest hope that the earthly
music will ever reach the high standard of
that we have just heard?”
982
”Thorwald has told me something of your
history,” Zenith replied, ”and I share his
strong faith in your happy destiny. It seems
to me that your race is equal to any achieve-
ment you have witnessed here, and even
greater things, but it will take much time.
Such changes are very slow. As for us, we
hope we are still making advancement in
music. We have few higher employments,
983
and hardly one in which we are more en-
tirely engrossed. It was given to us at an
early stage of our development, and all through
our troubled course music has been one of
the chief inﬂuences for good. It has helped
to keep hope alive during the darkest peri-
ods of our history, and has always been a
mighty incentive toward a higher spiritual
state. As your race advances I am sure you
984
will realize more and more the beauty and
value of this art, heaven-born and exhaust-
less.”
We all smiled at Zenith’s happy assur-
ance that the earth was on the upward path,
and Thorwald said:
”You see hope is contagious. But as we
have been through all your present troubles
and have triumphed over them, it is per-
985
haps easier for us to believe in you than for
you to believe in yourselves.
”And now, should you like to see how
the telephone works in every-day matters?”
On our replying in the aﬃrmative, Thor-
wald turned a switch, waited a moment,
turned it again, and then there appeared
before our eyes a familiar object, nothing
less than the ship in which we had made
986
our recent voyage. A number of the men,
whom we recognized, were walking about
the deck, and one stood apart, near the side
of the vessel, conversing with Thorwald, the
words of both being audible to us. When
they were through, the scene faded away
and Thorwald said:
”As soon as the ship reached its dock
connection was made with the general sys-
987
tem of wires, and the instrument, which is
stationed near the place where the man was
standing, was ready for use.
”So, whenever we desire to talk to our
friends, we summon them to our presence.
You see it is not necessary to speak directly
into the transmitter. We can sit comfort-
ably in our chairs and converse as easily as
when our friends are actually present.”
988
”Let me ask you, Thorwald,” said the
doctor, ”how all the electricity you use is
generated? The immense quantity you em-
ploy must necessitate a great deal of power
to produce it. Is there a huge plant in every
city driven by steam?”
”No,” answered Thorwald. ”We make
no use of steam in these days. All the power
we need is obtained from natural waterfalls
989
and rapids. This power, which nature has
placed ready made at our hand, is so abun-
dant that it can never be exhausted.”
”These waterfalls must fortunately be
well distributed,” remarked the doctor.
”Not more so, I presume, than on the
earth,” Thorwald made answer. ”Every stream
that runs in its bed has in it a power propor-
tioned to the volume of water and the swift-
990
ness of its current. Think of the amount of
water wasted every day in this way–no, not
wasted, but unused. We do not need, how-
ever, to utilize ordinary streams, as there
are enough great falls where power is trans-
formed into electricity to be sent over wires
to any distance required. In every city or
district large storage facilities are provided
from which power can be obtained for all
991
possible purposes. Our beds of coal and
wells of oil were long since exhausted, but
while rain falls and water runs this power
can never fail us.
”Doctor, what is the best metal you have
for transmitting electricity?”
”Copper,” answered my companion. ”Sil-
ver is a little better conductor, and a new
metal, called glucinium, is better still, but
992
both of these are too expensive for gen-
eral use. Our telegraph and telephone wires
were formerly made of iron for the sake of
economy, but copper is now used for these
lines, as well as for distributing electricity
on a large scale. The copper wire now com-
monly used for the telegraph has a resis-
tance of something like four ohms to the
mile.”
993
”You are making good progress,” said
Thorwald. ”But we have a metal of such
good conducting qualities that, without mak-
ing the wire too large for convenient use, we
have reduced the resistance to an ohm to
the mile.”
”That is an exceedingly valuable metal,”
the doctor said. ”And now let me ask you a
practical question. You say you draw your
994
electricity for a thousand and one uses from
a large storage plant in each city. Do you
pay for it by the kilowatt, or how is it mea-
sured?”
”We ask for so many watts or kilowatts,
and it is also measured by the watt hour.
But are you serious in asking if we pay for
it?”
”Why, you surely do not mean it is given
995
away,” exclaimed the doctor, ”after all the
expense connected with producing and trans-
mitting it.”
”Yes, I mean that whatever quantity we
want to use is ours for the asking. Before we
could buy it some one would have to own
it, and that could never be. Besides, how
could we buy anything without money?”
”What! No money either?” broke in the
996
doctor again. ”Well, if you can get along
without money, that accounts in my mind
for much of your happiness. Just think of
that,” continued the doctor, turning to me,
”to be forever rid of money and all the trou-
ble it brings.”
”Of what value would it be to us?” asked
Thorwald. ”We could not use it.”
”Some of our people on the earth,” replied
997
the doctor, ”have oceans of it which they
cannot use, and still they seem to think it
is of much value. It is an inherent character-
istic of our race to love the mere possession
of money or other property, and human na-
ture must change a great deal before we can
begin to reach the exalted moral condition
which you now enjoy, to say nothing of your
spiritual state.”
998
”Your nature will change,” said Thor-
wald, ”and do not doubt that the change
has already begun. Time is what you need,
and there is time enough for everything.”
After the midday lunch had been served
we were invited to take a walk about the
grounds. As the doctor and I were admir-
ing the beautiful lawns and gorgeous beds
of ﬂowers, and then stood enraptured at
999
the sight of the noble mansion itself, Zenith
watched us eagerly, and ﬁnally said, with a
smile:
”You discovered my favorite department
of art this morning. Now is a good time to
learn what Thorwald’s is.”
”Judging from what we have already seen
and heard of your husband,” said I, ”it seems
to me he must be an astronomer, or, if not
1000
that, then a theological professor.”
”If he has been talking to you on either
of those subjects,” she returned, ”I have
no doubt he told you things worth taking
home with you, but his pet topics of study
are architecture and its sister art, landscape
gardening. This house is a creature of his
brain, and all the artistic eﬀects in color and
pattern, which I know you have the taste to
1001
admire, are of his designing.”
The simple, unaﬀected manner in which
Zenith showed her pride in her husband’s
achievements was refreshing, and the knowl-
edge she imparted only added still more to
our high appreciation of our friend.
It was now time for Thorwald to speak,
and he remarked quietly:
”It is true that I love architecture. It is
1002
another occupation of which we can never
tire and whose resources we can never fathom.
A beautiful, digniﬁed, and truly artistic build-
ing is one of the highest possible products
of our civilization, and such work brings out
all the poetic feeling in one’s nature, just
as the production of a ﬁne painting or piece
of sculpture does. These arts, and litera-
ture as well, all have their special devotees
1003
among us, but everyone knows enough of
all arts to appreciate and enjoy good work
in every department.
”We build truthfully, and this helps to
make what we build beautiful, for truth is
beautiful wherever it is found; and beauty is
an object to be sought after for its own sake,
an enjoyable thing well worth striving for.
Religion and art, using both those terms
1004
in a comprehensive sense, have worked to-
gether, through all our history, to lift up
our souls and ﬁt them for higher and higher
duties.”
”Thorwald,” said Zenith, ”I think our
friends would enjoy seeing some of our im-
posing buildings and other works of art while
this subject is before them.”
That this was not a suggestion that we
1005
should start on an extended tour of the coun-
try was proved by Thorwald, who said:
”Very well, we will then go into the mu-
sic room again, if you please.”
Here we were shown, by the new powers
of the telephone, a bewildering succession
of the grandest structures our imagination
could picture: churches and cathedrals, col-
lege buildings, observatories, museums, mu-
1006
sic halls and private residences. These were
not like pictures or views; but the struc-
tures themselves, in full perspective and in
all the richness of their coloring, seemed to
stand before us. Trees waving in the breeze,
people and carriages passing in the streets
and occasionally a movement at a window
or door, all aided the illusion and made it
diﬃcult to realize that we were not in the
1007
midst of the scenes we were gazing upon.
Thorwald or Zenith told us the name or
purpose of each building as it appeared, and
the novel exhibition closed with the presen-
tation of a large and splendid playhouse.
As this was announced I involuntarily
exclaimed:
”So you have kept the theater, have you?
Some good people on the earth think the
1008
drama is demoralizing.”
”That,” said Zenith, ”is probably be-
cause you have allowed it to become de-
based. We read in our histories of such a
period here. Indeed, for a long time both
the play and the opera were abolished, our
advancing civilization having given them up
under the impression that the good in them
was overbalanced by the evil. But when the
1009
era of a more noble personal character had
come the drama was revived, and now is
not only a source of innocent pleasure but
is also a decided help to our growth.
”I recognize the house we are now look-
ing at. It is in quite a distant city, and I
see Thorwald has purposely chosen it be-
cause at this moment an able company is
presenting there one of our most popular
1010
plays. Would you like to hear some of it?”
No sooner were these words uttered than
we saw Thorwald make a slight movement
of the switch, and, lo! the scene was changed
to the interior of the building, and there be-
fore us was the Martian theater in full play.
We sat as it were in the dress circle, with
the orchestra and stage in our front. All was
beauty and life around us, and the richness
1011
and harmonious coloring of the whole in-
terior were simply beyond description. The
play was going on in a quiet, digniﬁed man-
ner and every word and gesture were char-
acterized with the greatest naturalness. It
struck the doctor and me as a peculiar fea-
ture that, while we could hear everything
that was said on the stage and even the
rustle of the people around us, we ourselves
1012
could talk and laugh without being noticed.
This eﬀect was produced by an ingenious
attachment to the telephone, and the doc-
tor was moved to remark:
”This is an altogether comfortable and
satisfactory situation.”
”Yes,” added Zenith, ”we think it is al-
most as good as being actually present in
the theater.”
1013
We assured her it was better, in our
opinion, and then we thanked them both
for the pleasure they had given us. But
we began to think their resources for en-
tertaining their friends would never be ex-
hausted when Thorwald told us he would,
at some future time, show us specimens of
their paintings, sculpture, ﬁne porcelain, el-
egant furniture, and many other works of
1014
art.
One morning, a few days later, as we
were rising from breakfast, Thorwald said:
”Well, my friends, I suppose you will go
to church with us to-day?”
”To church?” asked we in one breath.
”Yes, this is Sunday.”
”Oh, is it?” I said. ”I began to think you
didn’t have Sunday here. It is now eight
1015
days since our return from the moon, and
this is the ﬁrst we have heard of it.”
”Let me see,” said Thorwald, ”I believe
this is the ﬁrst Sunday we have spent at
home since you came to us.”
”Then how long is your week?”
”Ten days.”
”That accounts for our misunderstand-
ing,” I said, ”for our Sunday comes every
1016
seventh day.”
”That is an odd number,” returned Thor-
wald. ”With us the week is the basis of our
decimal method of reckoning. We have one
hundred minutes in an hour and ten hours
in a day.”
Of course we were ready to go to church,
and when we were on the way, seated in
a comfortable carriage, the doctor said to
1017
Thorwald:
”If for any reason you do not care to
go out on Sunday, I suppose you can all
repair to your music room, turn that little
switch, and listen to the best preacher and
the best church music in the land. But do
not imagine by that remark that we have
any fault to ﬁnd with this method of going
to church. For my part, I think I prefer it.”
1018
”I perceive,” answered Thorwald, ”that
you have a good idea of the capabilities of
the telephone, but I shall have to correct
you in this case. Our instruments are not
connected with any of the churches. But
to-morrow we can get, by asking through
the telephone, phonograph rolls of any ser-
mons that are delivered to-day. If we pre-
ferred we could get them in print, but the
1019
phonograph is pleasanter. This instrument
is now so perfect that the imitation of the
speaker’s words and tones is faultless. The
works of all our authors can be obtained in
this form, and our libraries consist in great
part of phonograph rolls. Even the poets
of former generations speak to us, and the
voice of the singer adds its charm to the
song.
1020
”But you will want to ask me why we
do not extend the use of the telephone to
the churches. We learned long ago that it
is a good thing for people to come together
for worship and that nothing will take the
place of it. We do not go for an intellectual
treat nor to enjoy the music, but only for
worship, and we try to keep our forms sim-
ple yet digniﬁed and as ﬁtting as possible in
1021
all ways. Some day I must tell you through
what diﬃculties we have passed in church
ceremonies and church government.”
CHAPTER XXV.
AN UNSATISFACTORY LOVER.
It was delightful to live in the same world
1022
with Mona, not for me only but for every
one who knew her. No one could help lov-
ing her; there was simply nothing else to do.
Others did not make as much show of their
aﬀection as I did, perhaps because no one
else was selﬁsh enough to claim the same
personal rights in her, but I found every
new acquaintance she made succumbed to
the power of her many charms. The se-
1023
cret of this general homage was her own
loving nature, which just worked itself out
spontaneously, but the more her love was
shed abroad the more she retained for new-
comers. At ﬁrst my naturally jealous dis-
position continued to give me long hours of
anguish, but I happily was able to overcome
this to a great extent as I became better ac-
quainted with her marvelous spirit.
1024
Although I was at that time too much
under the spell of this fair creature to form
an unprejudiced judgment of her, I have
since then attempted something of the kind,
in comparing her in my mind with Anto-
nia and others whom we met in Mars. Let
me say that the Martians are not a perfect
race. With our undeveloped spiritual na-
tures we could not, during our entire visit,
1025
see any imperfections in them; but, as will
be seen further on in this narrative, our
good friends Thorwald and Zenith, under
whose instructions kind fortune had placed
us, were particular to tell us that their race
had reached only an advanced state of civ-
ilization, to which the earth might one day
attain, and that perfection was still a dream
of the future. Taking Antonia, then, as a
1026
representative of her kind, I can see that
she had a solidly formed character. She
was what she was, not because she could
not help it but because she herself willed it.
That is, when she might have done wrong
she chose to do right. Her connection with
temptation was not entirely through her re-
mote ancestors, whose sins ﬁlled such a large
page in their history, but she herself had felt
1027
drawings toward evil. Yet so slightly had
she yielded, and so strongly had her right
years of living buttressed her against all
kinds of wrong, that she, as well as all of her
race whom we saw, appeared to us about
perfect. Theoretically she might transgress,
but practically it was all but impossible.
Hers, then, was a truly noble character, and
when she gave her love to Foedric he had
1028
good reason to be proud of the gift. Nor
did she defraud others of their due, but her
heart was open to every proper call.
Such was Antonia, one whom we could
in some degree appreciate, although so far
above us. But how could we understand
a being like Mona, who told us, and we
saw no reason to disbelieve her, that she
had never known what it was to do wrong?
1029
She seemed as incapable of evil as the birds
of the air, or, to make the comparison still
stronger, as a beautiful rose. She was guile-
less by nature, and goodness and truth were
as much a part of her as her beauty was.
She was made to be a joy and comfort to
every creature brought within the circle of
her inﬂuence, and she could no more help
loving than the sun can help shining. All
1030
who came near her received a share of her
gracious beams.
She was unselﬁsh and full of sympathy
and every right feeling, not because she had
seen the evils of selﬁshness and meanness,
but because these latter qualities were ut-
terly unknown to her. Her high character
and perfectly correct life, therefore, were
not the result of reason and choice, but were
1031
the instinctive manifestations of her pure
nature.
I do not undertake to say which of these
two presented the higher type of woman-
hood, and I certainly entered into no such
speculations about them at that time, but
I never had any diﬃculty in deciding that
Mona was the one I loved. I did not, of
course, relish her fondness for others. In
1032
that respect I considered her nature alto-
gether too ardent, but I found I must get
accustomed to it, as she would not change.
It made me quite despondent at times,
fearing I could never lead her to feel any
special liking for me. Then when she smiled
upon me and sang so sweetly to me, I thought
I ought to be happy though I had to share
her heart with all the world. Still I did not
1033
relax my eﬀorts to make my share larger.
”Mona,” I said, one day, ”I wish you
would ask me to do something real hard for
you.”
”Why?” she asked.
”So that I could show you how much I
love you.”
”But you have already shown me,” she
said. ”I cannot think of anything more dif-
1034
ﬁcult than you have done. Did you not
keep up a ﬁrm belief that I would be found,
even after the doctor and these wise men of
Mars had lost all hope, and did you not, by
your enthusiasm, prevail on them to enter
on a diﬃcult search for me on the moon? I
have heard all about your deep concern for
me and how you were aﬀected by hearing
singing which you thought was like mine.
1035
And now that I have been found, you are
so watchful for my comfort and like to be
so near me all the time, that I am sure I do
not need any further proof of your strong
attachment. But why do you pay me so
much attention? Why do you not like to be
with Antonia as much as with me?”
”Because I do not love her as much as I
do you.”
1036
”Why do you love me so? Because I
took you down to my quiet home and saved
you from being blown oﬀ the top of the
moon?”
”No, the doctor and I are both grateful
to you for that kindness, but gratitude isn’t
love.”
”I haven’t done anything else for you,”
she said.
1037
”It isn’t for anything you have done that
I love you.”
”What then?”
”Oh, I don’t know. I suppose it is be-
cause I can’t help it.”
”Oh, then you are becoming like me, for
I can’t help loving everybody.”
”I shall never be good enough for that,”
said I.
1038
”What is love, as you understand it?”
asked Mona.
”Love–love,” I hesitated; ”why, it is the
feeling I have in my heart for you. Love is
what kept hope alive when you were lost
and gave me such joy when I heard your
voice and knew we had found you. Love
makes every task light that is done for you
and every place where you are the brightest
1039
spot in the universe. Even this delightful
world of Mars is more beautiful than ever
because you are here. Love, if mutual, is a
precious bond, uniting two hearts and mak-
ing them beat in harmony. Cannot you and
I be joined in heart, Mona?”
”My dear friend,” she replied, ”I am very
sorry I cannot share your feeling, but I do
not understand such love as you have been
1040
trying to describe.”
”Then I fear you do not love me,” I re-
sponded, with great sadness in my voice.
”Oh, don’t say that,” she exclaimed. ”In-
deed I do love you. Now, how can I prove
it to you? What is the opposite of love?”
”Hatred; or, in such a case as this, indif-
ference would be about as bad as anything.”
”Well, I don’t know much about such
1041
things, but do I seem like a person who
could hate you or be indiﬀerent to you?”
”No, Mona, you seem to be the most
loving creature in all the worlds we have
ever known, but–”
”Oh, do not spoil that ﬁne speech with
a ’but.’ I know what you want to say. You
think I ought to love you more than anyone
else, or in some diﬀerent way. Now, that de-
1042
sire of yours is what I cannot understand.
I love everybody alike because I know of no
other sentiment. So it is a matter of course
with me, and I do not feel obliged to tell
people that I love them. You seem to make
too much of it, coming to me everyday and
telling me, over and over again, that you
love me, just as if I doubted it. Why do you
like to be with me so much? Do you think
1043
it is right to be so exclusive? You ought to
favor the others with your company. As for
me, I must say I prefer Foedric’s society to
yours, because he has so many interesting
things to talk about, while you stick contin-
ually to one subject and give me little infor-
mation even on that one. You know I am a
new-comer here and eager to learn all I can.
Then there’s the doctor. I take more plea-
1044
sure conversing with him than with you, for
he seems to know more, or, at any rate, to
be more able to tell me things I want to
know about the earth. If the doctor were
not here and you were the only one to judge
from, I should be obliged to think the peo-
ple of the earth a very curious race. Your
companion, however, appears to be a man
of considerable sense.”
1045
Mona sang all this in her easy, natural
way, being perfectly free from any intention
of wounding my feelings, but the more inno-
cent I believed her the more incapable I saw
she was of entering into my feelings. I be-
gan to realize how, in loving everybody, she
missed a certain enjoyment derived from a
more selﬁsh order of love. It then occurred
to me that a world full of such people as
1046
Mona must have rather a monotonous time
from our point of view, and I asked her if
she could tell me about her race in general
respecting the subject of our conversation.
”Certainly,” she replied, ”I can tell you
something from my own recollections, but
more from our traditions.”
”Well, were the men of the moon all sen-
sible, or were they all like me?”
1047
”Oh, I see you have a little sense as soon
as you begin to talk in a new direction. In
answer to your question, let me say that
the stress you have put on our personal re-
lations is something entirely new to me, and
I do not see any use or advantage in it. This
must be my excuse for speaking so plainly. I
should not have spoken so had I not known,
in spite of what I have said, that you had
1048
too much sense to be oﬀended.”
”I thank you,” I said. ”Do not apolo-
gize for your words. I have taken them as a
needed rebuke for my haste in appropriat-
ing you to myself. But I believe, Mona, that
the time will come when you will know the
happiness of loving one person so much that
your love for all others will not be thought
of in comparison. Happy will he be who,
1049
in that day, is able to prove the capacity of
your great heart.”
”Then, in that day,” she responded, ”shall
I prove myself to be the degenerate daugh-
ter of a noble race. No, my friend, we were
not made of such stuﬀ. We loved every-
body, without question and without limit.
We could do nothing else, and to love one
more than another was therefore impossi-
1050
ble.”
”Let me ask if everyone was worthy of
being loved?”
”Why, as to that, we were all alike. What
do you think of me?”
”You know what I think of you, Mona;
or, if you do not, I will tell you.”
”Yes; you needn’t tell me again. What
I wanted to say is, that I am no better than
1051
the rest of my people were.”
”What a world it must have been then,”
I exclaimed, ”and how fortunate that the
earth did not discover it earlier. With such
an example before us we should have been
utterly discouraged.”
When Mona had left me at the close
of this conversation, I proceeded to take
stock of my sensations. I had certainly been
1052
seeing a new phase of Mona’s character.
Could I make such vigorous language con-
sistent with my former conception of her?
I answered yes to this question after study-
ing it awhile, for I concluded that she was
only just in giving me a lesson that I de-
served. Her innocence was only the more
evident, and that was the ground on which
I built my faith in her. But now came the
1053
inquiry whether my love could withstand
such a shock as it had received. I was no
longer blind to the truth. Mona had no
stronger aﬀection for me than for her other
friends, and it began to be doubtful if she
ever would have, considering her peculiar
education in aﬀairs of the heart. If I con-
tinued to love her, it must be with the full
knowledge that I had not as yet gained the
1054
slightest success in my eﬀort to secure her
for my own exclusive possession. My exu-
berant passion had received a serious shock,
for I had been plainly told that it was mak-
ing me appear ridiculous. Then, when there
seemed to be danger that my love must
grow cold under such treatment, I began to
argue Mona’s cause to myself, and I bade
myself take comfort once more in the old
1055
thoughts. She was young and careless, be-
sides being entirely new to our manner of
wooing, and I had been too hasty in my ap-
proaches and no doubt tired her with my
continuous solicitations. But then, on the
other hand, I continued, the case seemed
much more hopeless than before after such
a plain rebuﬀ, and if I had any self-respect
I could not continue to pay my court where
1056
my honest love was made a matter of jest.
These thoughts passed rapidly through
my mind, and I cannot tell to what rash re-
solve they would have led me had not the
music of Mona’s laughing voice just then
come ﬂoating in from another room. As
usual, this was more than I could resist,
and its immediate eﬀect now was to drive
out reason and to enthrone love once more.
1057
All my doubt and uncertainty vanished in
a twinkling, my self-respect hid itself in a
dark corner of my memory, and as I in-
stinctively started to ﬁnd the fair singer I
realized again, with a feeling too strong for
argument, that I was still very much in love.
1058
CHAPTER XXVI.
AN ENVIABLE CONDITION.
Our life in this cultured home continued
to be as pleasant as were these ﬁrst days.
There was always something new to show
us or to tell us. We would walk out every
day and often step into a carriage and take
a long ride. Our friends were famous walk-
1059
ers but were considerate of our feebleness,
and still our returning strength, added to
the great buoyancy of our bodies on that
smaller planet, soon gave us also remark-
able walking powers.
Sometimes the children would accom-
pany us on an all-day excursion, and then
the house would be left not only unlocked,
but with the doors wide open perhaps. When
1060
we remarked on this, Zenith told us that if
anyone happened along he would be at per-
fect liberty to go in and help himself to any-
thing in the house. This was always under-
stood, whether the people were at home or
not, and one need not even go through the
formality of asking, if he could see what he
wanted. This referred not merely to bodily
refreshment, of which one might be in need,
1061
but literally to everything the house con-
tained; and the reason why there was any
sort of comfort living under such conditions
was, that the members of that society were
all and severally of such ripe characters that
it was well known one would not deprive an-
other of anything he was using except for a
reason which would be satisfactory to both.
”If we could communicate with the peo-
1062
ple on the earth,” said the doctor to me
when we sat alone conversing about these
things, ”and tell them how the inhabitants
here live, they would want to organize an
expedition and start for Mars right away.”
”Yes, I think they would,” I assented.
”And yet, if what Thorwald says is true,
the earth will one day be as good as Mars.
Do you believe it?”
1063
”Well, the fact is,” answered the doc-
tor, ”I am ready to believe almost anything
now.”
”Oh, I wish Thorwald could hear you
say that.”
”I should not object,” he continued. ”I
am sure that some power, not comprehended
by our science or philosophy, has operated
here to bring these people to the condition
1064
in which we ﬁnd them, and if the same kind
forces are at work on the earth, let us hope
they will do as much for us, no matter how
much time it takes. If a belief in such a
power is faith, then perhaps I am beginning
to have a little faith.
”I remember I used to hear our preach-
ers in their public prayers ask God that ev-
ery form of vice and crime might be ban-
1065
ished from the earth, and that the time
might come when there should be no more
sin, but only love and beauty and happi-
ness. I have heard such prayers a hundred
times, and never thought much about them.
But now I am forced to think, and it seems
to me that these prayers would not be made
continually unless there were a hope and ex-
pectation in the minds of religious people
1066
that they would some time be answered. It
is not for me to assume that such a hope is
unreasonable, drawn as it is from the book
which so many believe is the word of God.”
I rejoiced to hear my friend talk in this
way, but it seemed very odd that he should
be preaching my own doctrine to me. I had
had the same thoughts, and had been trying
to ﬁnd the right time to oﬀer them to the
1067
doctor. I am sure I was thankful that he
was coming to such views without a word
from me, for he would probably be much
more apt to hold to them.
The foregoing conversation was in the
evening, and the next morning we were all
sitting comfortably in the music room, when
Thorwald said:
”The other day I began to give you some
1068
orderly account of our history, but you see
how it has been broken into by the rela-
tion of diﬀerent phases, in answer to your
questions. It seems to me now that it will
be more interesting to you if I continue in
the same way and take up one subject at a
time. And now that we have a little time
before us, I wish you would suggest some
point upon which you would like to have
1069
me talk; that is, if it is agreeable to you.”
To which the doctor replied:
”I like your plan very much and I am
sure we both have plenty of questions which
will keep you supplied with topics. I have
desired for some time to ask you about your
industrial system. I can see how electricity
has relieved you of the most arduous labor,
but there must remain much disagreeable
1070
work, as we would call it, to be done with
the hand. In our busy life there are a thou-
sand such tasks, which I cannot conceive
of being performed by machinery, many of
them hard only because they are monotonous
and awake no interest or enthusiasm in the
performer. Men and women are continu-
ally wearing themselves out with such work.
You must have abolished all that, if every-
1071
body here is comfortable and happy. I am
very anxious to hear how it has been done.”
”In answering your question,” Thorwald
began, ”let me say, ﬁrst, that I presume we
have learned to employ machines in a great
many ways which to you would seem incom-
prehensible. The drudgery and much of the
monotony of labor have been removed, as
well as its severity. But still, as you surmise,
1072
there is plenty of work for all. Our higher
civilization does not require less work than
yours, but rather more and of greater vari-
ety. It is all done quietly, however, without
friction or any of the unpleasant features of
former times.
”I suspect that the real secret of the
change is in the elevation of individual char-
acter. This has done more to better our
1073
condition than electricity and all the mate-
rial improvements and inventions of the age.
You must believe me when I say that no sort
of labor is considered disgraceful, and, fur-
ther, that one occupation is just as honor-
able as another. The man who goes into the
mine and superintends the machine which
gathers the precious metal is esteemed as
highly as he who, with an artist’s brain and
1074
ﬁngers, shapes it to its highest use. The
carpenter who works with his hands in the
building of the house can hold his head as
high as the architect who has spent many
years in learning how to create the design.
Why not? Both are engaged on the same
work, each one in his favorite, and so his
best, way. Both are working, not for daily
bread or other selﬁsh end, but for the sake
1075
of doing something useful. The perfect con-
tent and satisfaction we all enjoy in our la-
bor come partly from our abundant health
and strength, and largely, also, from our en-
tire freedom from anxiety in regard to the
means of maintenance for ourselves and our
families. In these respects we are all equally
fortunate. We are absolutely unconcerned
about what material things we shall have
1076
for ourselves or leave to our children.”
”Do you then all have equal pay for your
work, and that so much that it places you
above anxiety?” asked the doctor.”
”Yes,” answered Thorwald, ”we are all
paid equally, because we are not paid at all.
So, having no wages and owning no prop-
erty, why should we be anxious? You know
I have told you we can have for our use
1077
anything that is produced or made with-
out even asking anybody for it. The mere
fact that we need a thing makes it rightfully
ours.”
”But what is the incentive to labor if
you get nothing for it, and can live just as
well without it?”
”The incentive is in the love for our work
and the consciousness that we are doing
1078
something to make someone happier and
the world a little better. Let me give you
an illustration, a personal one, if you will
excuse me. A neighbor asks me to make
him a plan for a house. He may be a writer
of books or he may be a carriage maker, or
what not, it makes not the slightest diﬀer-
ence. I enjoy that kind of work and, having
obtained his ideas in regard to a house, I
1079
do the best I can. I cannot conceive that I
could do any better if I knew he would pay
me for the work, as you say. In like manner
he asks other neighbors to build his house
for him, and he has no diﬃculty in ﬁnding
enough men who enjoy that occupation as
much as I do my part of the work, and the
principle which governs them in their labor
is as high as that which controls me.”
1080
”Then,” said the doctor, ”I should think
the poor man–I beg your pardon, I mean
the hod-carrier–could have as grand a house
as the architect himself.”
”I don’t know what a hod-carrier is,”
replied Thorwald, ”but I get your meaning,
and you are quite right. As an example of
just that state of things, I will tell you that
the man who tends the digging machine in
1081
my garden lives in a larger and handsomer
house than this one. Why not? He has a
large family, and he and his wife are edu-
cated and reﬁned people.”
”But with no physical wants to provide
against, I should think some men would ﬁnd
existence easier not to work at all. Accord-
ing to your theory they could live in as good
style as the toilers and have no one to call
1082
them to account.”
”No one but themselves. Every man is
his own monitor, and he needs no other.
He knows his duty, and he has that within
him which keeps him up to it more eﬀectu-
ally than any outside inﬂuence could. In re-
gard to a man’s not caring to work, we have
been through all that, and we have now no
such cases. We found out long ago that it is
1083
better to have some one stated employment
and follow it. But this does not mean that
the work becomes a burden. One can rest as
often and as long as he pleases. There is no
one to intimate in any way that he should
be at work, as the question is left entirely
to him. The moment that work ceases to
be a necessity it becomes a pleasure and
the most natural thing in the world. The
1084
multiplication of mechanical inventions has
greatly reduced the volume of labor, so that
there is really but little for each individ-
ual to do; and the truth is, there is never
any lack of men. If anything, there is not
enough work.”
”Your words,” said the doctor, ”reveal a
remarkable condition of aﬀairs, and I fear it
will be many, many years before we can be-
1085
gin to think seriously of such a plan, so long
as to make it almost hopeless; but there
is one more question I would like to ask.
With all this freedom of choice, how does
it happen that all do not ﬂock to the easy
and pleasant occupations, and leave the dis-
agreeable tasks undone?”
To this Thorwald replied:
”Let me ask you, Doctor, if you have
1086
not an answer to your question in your own
industrial system. Do you not always ﬁnd
men to do every required work, no matter
how hard and distasteful it may seem to
you? I do not mean that the parallel is
exact, but this seems to be governed now,
as it has always been, by a dispensation of
nature. We are born with diﬀerent tastes
and inclinations. Each one chooses his own
1087
occupation, and it comes to pass providen-
tially, just as it did in the olden time, that
all do not choose alike.”
”Are all equally well educated?”
”No, but all have an equal opportunity.
Everyone is given a broad foundation of gen-
eral information. The mind and hand are
both trained and prepared to do good work,
and then the choice of occupation is made
1088
and the special education begins. But one
who has chosen some kind of manual labor
as his vocation very often takes up literary
or other professional work in addition, and
everybody has some kind of study on hand,
by which the mind is kept employed. There
is no uneducated class among us.”
”Before you reached such nobility of char-
acter,” said the doctor, ”that panacea for
1089
so many ills, I suppose you had troubles
enough. You have already intimated as much
to us. I wonder if it would not help us to
appreciate better your present condition if
you should tell us brieﬂy of your experiences
in solving so happily some of the problems
of your career. I am thinking now more es-
pecially of the diﬃculties of your social and
industrial reformation.”
1090
”I will attempt something of the kind,”
Thorwald replied, ”if you are sure I shall
not weary you. Remember to prompt me if
I do not follow the lines of most interest to
you.
”If you should prefer to read you would
ﬁnd the facts you want fully set forth in
our histories. The records are especially full
and exhaustive on the subjects you have
1091
mentioned, for the important changes, or,
at least, the changes whose story will be
most instructive to you, came in a time
of great intellectual activity. Of the ear-
lier days the history is unfortunately less
complete, and still further back the records
become uncertain and many are merely leg-
endary.
”Let us begin at a time when civilization
1092
was conﬁned to a small portion of the sur-
face of our planet. Society was then crude
and unformed. It was a rude, selﬁsh age.
But the germ of better things was there, for
the gospel of Christ had been planted in the
world and was sure to spring into life when
its time should come. But meanwhile our
evil nature was strong and choked the good
seed, and made advancement slow and un-
1093
certain. Power was divided among many
rulers who were despots, whose principal
occupation was war. The people were val-
ued merely for their ﬁghting qualities and
enjoyed only such rights and privileges as
their cruel masters allowed them. Being
slaves themselves, they held in a still more
bitter slavery every prisoner captured in war.
”Life was mere animal existence for most
1094
of the race, without enjoyment for the present
or hope for the future. Education being de-
nied them, there was no mental stimulus
to compensate for physical wretchedness,
and even their meager religious privileges
were accompanied with so many supersti-
tious and unnatural rites that life was re-
lieved of but a little of its burden.
”Gradually power was concentrated in
1095
the hands of a few autocrats, nations were
consolidated, and war began to be a sci-
ence. Then some attention was paid to the
comfort of the people for the purpose of
making them better soldiers. Soon it was
found that intelligence was the best weapon
a man could carry, and so education, in a
very stinted form, was encouraged. This
was a fatal blunder on the part of the rulers,
1096
for as soon as the mind was unfettered the
shackles began to fall from the body, and
the days of absolutism were numbered. The
spirit of knowledge, once released from its
imprisonment, became a dominant power in
the world, and as time went on the people
demanded a voice in the management of af-
fairs. In this way came constitutional gov-
ernment, which for a long time held sway,
1097
and under which there came immense ben-
eﬁts to all. Religion and learning ﬂour-
ished, science and art blessed the race with
their bounties, and the world began to be
a brighter and better place to live in, com-
paring the times with the ages of ignorance
and cruelty that went before.
”And now the stream of liberty broad-
ened, and before long became a ﬂood that
1098
swept away thrones and scepters. Personal
government ceased, and the people became
their own political masters. The right of
suﬀrage was extended and slavery was abol-
ished, while commerce and the spirit of ad-
venture carried civilization to many parts
of the world. Then appeared a swarm of
mechanical inventions to lighten the labor
of mankind, electricity came with its strong
1099
arm and great promise, and easier and swifter
transportation by land and sea brought the
nations and peoples together to the mutual
advantage of all.
”Education, once the possession of the
rich and powerful only, now shed its benign
inﬂuence over the whole people. Whereas,
in the early times, learning had caused the
downfall of despotic power, it was now con-
1100
sidered a principal safeguard of good gov-
ernment, and made compulsory. Wealth
was accumulated, luxuries multiplied, and
great strides were taken in the material wel-
fare of both nations and individuals. It was
an age of intense activity. So rapidly did
events follow each other, and such possi-
bilities were anticipated, that enthusiasts,
whose heads were turned in the mad whirl,
1101
prophesied the immediate opening of the
millennium.
”Judged by all the race had previously
known of freedom, of prosperity, and of hap-
piness, it was a grand age, and that gen-
eration might well be proud of their timely
birth. But, looked at from our present stand-
point, we can see it was still a day of sadness
and sin. We understand, what it was more
1102
diﬃcult for them to realize, that the revival
of pure religion, awakening the conscience
of mankind, had brought about all that was
good in their condition, while many evil
tendencies had only been exaggerated by
their material prosperity. So it was still
a very imperfect world. Political freedom
they had, but there was no emancipation
from the powerful thraldom of selﬁshness.
1103
That spirit held universal sway, governing
not only individual action but also the pol-
icy of nations.
”One of the highest sentiments known to
the times, and some writers placed it even
above religion, was love of country. Impas-
sioned oratory was fond of declaring that
loyalty to one’s native land was the loftiest
emotion the heart could feel, and no voice
1104
was found to rebuke the utterance.”
I was a little shocked to hear Thorwald,
in his earnest manner, give expression to
these words, as though he looked upon such
views in a very serious light. I was therefore
bold enough to interrupt him with:
”Excuse me, Thorwald, but would not
these orators, when their attention was called
to their extreme language, acknowledge that
1105
love to God was a still higher sentiment?”
”Perhaps they would, for with all the
selﬁshness of the period there was a deep-
seated belief in a divine being. But even so,
I still would not allow them to be right.”
”Why,” I asked, ”is there more than one
motive higher than patriotism?”
”Yes, love is higher,” answered Thor-
wald. ”Let me explain. What did love of
1106
country mean? At ﬁrst one’s country was a
single family, then a tribe, and later a city,
when the measure of one’s patriotism was
the measure also of his hatred for every-
thing foreign. In time a state was formed
from many cities and towns, and its citizens
were taught to look on all other states as
enemies. Then these states that had been
ﬁghting each other consolidated into a na-
1107
tion, made up, perhaps, of diﬀerent races
and languages. By this time patriotism be-
came a lofty theme, but it was the same
spirit essentially as that which prompts the
members of two savage tribes to ﬁght to the
death through a blind and unreasoning de-
votion to their leaders. So do you not think
that love to all, which can only come from a
generous heart, is more to be praised than
1108
love to a part, which necessitates enmity to
all the rest? I should think it would have
puzzled the people of that age sometimes to
tell of what their country really consisted.
Was their highest allegiance due to their
city, or their county, or their state, or their
nation?
”To what did this immoderate love of
country lead? To a passion for aggrandize-
1109
ment at the expense of others, and what
was this but selﬁshness with a gloss so bright
as to make it look like a virtue? It led to the
strangling of conscience in national aﬀairs,
so as to make wrong seem right, and, more
than that, to persistence in a course when
it was well known to be wrong. It taught
false ideas of honor and made the world one
grand dueling ﬁeld, where the energy of na-
1110
tions was spent in watching for insults from
their neighbors, and where the quick blow
followed every real or fancied oﬀense.
”Do not imagine, by what I have said,
that I would have advised these people to
love their country less. On the contrary,
I should tell them to love it so much that
they could not see it do wrong; to love it
so much that they should have no room
1111
in their hearts for bitterness toward others;
so much that they should strive to have it
lead the world in a march toward univer-
sal brotherhood. Love for one’s neighbor
should not stop at state or national bound-
aries. Love should know neither caste nor
country, but should take in the world, and,
I might add for your beneﬁt, other worlds if
necessary. Love is a condition of the heart,
1112
something within, not without, the man,
and when fully developed reaches out to ev-
erything that God has made.”
”It seems to me, Thorwald,” I ventured
to say, ”that these sentiments, which I can
see are admirable, belong to your present
high development, while we of the earth
have reached only about the condition of
the people whose traits you have been de-
1113
scribing.”
”Then,” resumed Thorwald, ”you can
perhaps understand another evil of those
times. It did not grow directly out of love
for country, but that too much lauded sen-
timent prevented the people from seeing its
full enormity. This was the practice of at-
tempting by law to protect the inhabitants
of one country by shutting out the goods of
1114
all others. This prohibition included both
the manufactured articles and natural prod-
ucts, and the means adopted was the plac-
ing of a high duty on imports. If the politi-
cal leaders of a people could succeed in con-
vincing them that such a course would raise
wages, increase the opportunities for accu-
mulating money, and make them in gen-
eral more prosperous, then it was forthwith
1115
adopted, entirely without regard to the ef-
fect it might have on the rest of the world.
It is not at all plain to be seen, from reading
the history of those times, that the happi-
est results always followed the passage of
these laws, but the experiment was tried
whenever a majority felt that there was a
fair expectation of such beneﬁts. The only
question considered was whether it would
1116
be good policy for their particular country.
And if one result of this selﬁsh legislation
was the closing of mills and the loss of em-
ployment to thousands of workmen in some
other part of the world, these facts were
paraded in the public prints as though they
were matter for rejoicing. Men were yet to
learn that the maxim which the politicians
were fond of quoting, ’the greatest good to
1117
the greatest number,’ should have a world-
wide application to give it any meaning at
all.”
While my prejudices were receiving an-
other shock, I knew the doctor was really
enjoying this part of Thorwald’s talk. So,
in order to draw him out, I said to him, as
Thorwald paused:
”Doctor, I think our friend must belong
1118
to your party.”
”I should rather belong to his party,”
replied the doctor.
”Thank you,” said Thorwald. ”That is
a compliment which I appreciate; and now
I think I have talked long enough for one
sitting. Let us get some lunch, and then go
out for a good walk.”
Thorwald must have seen that the doc-
1119
tor’s mood was softening, but he probably
thought it wise not to speak more directly
to him at present.
CHAPTER XXVII.
THE CHILDREN’S DAY.
As it was a holiday, the children accom-
1120
panied us on our walk, and we had further
opportunity of observing the easy, natural
relations which existed between them and
their parents. There was neither undue fa-
miliarity nor too much restraint. There was
respect as well as aﬀection on both sides,
and a scrupulous concern for each other’s
feelings. Evidently the children had all the
rights they could appropriate to their ad-
1121
vantage, while there was no abrogation of
the privileges or the duties of the parents.
At a convenient time during the after-
noon I spoke to Zenith about this happy
condition of family aﬀairs, and I was greatly
enlightened and not a little amused by her
reply.
”It was not always so,” she said. ”One
of the sad chapters of our history tells us
1122
of an unfortunate episode in the family life.
In the early days the father had complete
control over his household, even the lives
of its members being at his disposal. But
as civilization advanced the law stepped in
and protected the dependent ones from too
harsh punishment and from neglect. In time
sympathy for the weak and unprotected made
all corporal punishment unpopular, both at
1123
home and at school, and soon discipline of
every kind was much weakened. There ap-
peared to be a growing impression on the
part of the elders that there could not be
any evil in the child’s nature, and so if he
were allowed to grow up without any par-
ticular training he would not go far out of
the way. It seemed to be overlooked that
this was something new in the history of the
1124
race, that the experiment had never been
tried of giving the youth their own way,
from the cradle up. It had been taught
from very early times that the child, for
its own future welfare, should receive cor-
rection, and the teaching had never before
been departed from. The parents might
just as well have put the reins of family
government in the hands of the children at
1125
once, for this is what it came to in the
end. The children, released from all re-
straint, lost ﬁrst their respect for their el-
ders, and then all regard for their feelings.
Instead of love there grew up a careless in-
diﬀerence, and in place of that tender thought-
fulness so necessary to happiness in this re-
lation, parents began to receive harsh and
even cruel treatment. As we look back upon
1126
it now, it seems strange that the result was
not anticipated, and the trend of events changed
by a decided stand against such an unnat-
ural course. But the approach to a crisis
was insidious and, as I have said, history
furnished no parallel from which to draw a
warning.
”Two things made it the worst time in
the world for parents to become lax in their
1127
discipline. One was the growing sentiment
in favor of independence which was perme-
ating all classes of society, and the other the
great revival of learning among the people.
Given a large class of persons highly edu-
cated and taught to prize personal liberty
above everything else, and still without the
discretion that comes only with years, and
what could be expected of them when left
1128
with no strong hand to guide them? The
methods of education improved so rapidly,
and there were such constantly increasing
opportunities for obtaining knowledge, that
there was some excuse for the children in
getting the idea that they knew more than
their fathers and mothers. This belief would
not under any circumstances improve their
manners, and at this time it only caused
1129
them to despise still more those who seemed
willing to withdraw all claim to authority
over them. Precocity, which had never been
a popular trait, came to the front with no
modesty to relieve its disagreeable charac-
ter.
”But the conduct of the youth of both
sexes was not conﬁned to the exhibition of
bad manners, nor to the mere passive in-
1130
dulgence of an undutiful spirit. These led
gradually to a more serious phase of the re-
bellion, the inauguration of a series of petty
annoyances, to be followed, naturally, by
acts of downright injustice and cruelty. It
seemed as if the old years of oppression to
which, in a ruder age, the children had been
subjected, were about to be repeated, with
the parents for the victims. You must not
1131
suppose that these vast changes came about
in the course of one generation. Just as a
sentiment in favor of liberty will be perpet-
uated in a people from one generation to an-
other, and increase with the lapse of years,
so this feeling of independence of parental
control and this decadence of natural aﬀec-
tion were transmitted from one set of chil-
dren to the next, and matters grew from
1132
bad to worse.
”At length the behavior of the young
people became so notoriously bad that the
matter had to be taken out of the hereto-
fore sacred precincts of home and treated in
a public manner. The press tried to work
a reformation by ridicule and threats, and
when this was seen to have no eﬀect the
legislatures took up the subject, and ac-
1133
tually passed laws ’for the relief and pro-
tection of oppressed parents,’ and ’for the
reestablishment of rightful authority in the
home.’ These bold measures so angered
the children that they declared they would
not submit to such insults, but would take
the matter of making laws, as well as all
other branches of public business, into their
own hands. They started their own organs,
1134
which made such silly declarations as this:
’We are young, but in all other respects we
are superior to our elders. We have more in-
telligence, more spirit and courage, we out-
number them two to one, and, what is bet-
ter than all the rest, we hold them already
in our power. So why should we not use
that power, and go forward and destroy ev-
ery vestige of their authority? Let them
1135
work and earn our support, and we will do
the rest.’”
”And now,” asked Zenith, ”how do you
think the aﬀair came out?”
”I confess,” I answered, ”that I shall
have to give it up.”
”Well,” she continued, ”the problem was
solved, as so many others in our career have
been, when the needed lesson had been learned,
1136
without our being subjected to the extremely
dire results which seemed so imminent; and
I am happy to be able to tell you that relief
came through the eﬀorts of one of my own
sex. Just before the last ounce was added
to the weight of foolishness and error which
was to turn the world completely over, a girl
made her appearance with sense enough to
call a halt. She happened to be editing one
1137
of the ﬁery journals of her class, when it
struck her one day that they were carrying
the thing too far. She had the courage to
say so, and got roundly abused for it. She
persisted, obtained adherents and helpers,
and soon a decided reaction set in. Like
a house of cards, which a breath will de-
stroy, the unstable structure the children
had built fell to the ground, never to be re-
1138
stored.
”The lesson was not forgotten, and the
experience, which appears laughable now,
has been of great beneﬁt to us at diﬀer-
ent times since. But the broadening of our
minds and the general improvement in our
character have long ago placed us beyond
the danger of a recurrence of such events.
Compared to our present state those were
1139
the days of our infancy.”
As Zenith closed I told her I had enjoyed
her story, and that I hoped the earth would
not require such a lesson.
”I trust not,” said Zenith.
1140
CHAPTER XXVIII.
BUSINESS ETHICS.
The next day the doctor and I took the
ﬁrst opportunity to tell Thorwald that we
were anxious to have him proceed with his
narrative.
”Yes,” he said, ”I shall be glad to do so,
for I had not reached the important part
1141
when our sitting broke up yesterday.
”I was describing to you a remarkable
era in our career, and one of you mentioned
the fact that the present condition of your
race corresponded in some particulars with
that age on Mars. If you shall discover fur-
ther points of likeness as I continue, it will
add a peculiar interest to my story.
”There is a diﬀerence of opinion among
1142
our historians in regard to those times. Some
believe that the whole world was corrupt,
that it was an age of material development
only, and that, if there were any good im-
pulses at all, they were so smothered with
selﬁshness as to be of no account. But these
writers lived long ago, and were themselves
more or less under the shadow of that epoch.
I strongly hold to the views of the great ma-
1143
jority of our scholars, who tell us that, while
there was too much evil of all kinds, there
was also much good, and many believers in
a ﬁnal happy issue out of all the troubles of
the time.
”In a society so entirely given up to the
pursuit of wealth and worldly advantage of
every sort, those who were trying to hold
up the standard of righteousness and to al-
1144
leviate the lot of their fellow beings should
be remembered with gratitude. Among the
multitude of inventions were many that were
calculated to relieve the laborer of his sever-
est tasks, to mitigate suﬀering, to ward oﬀ
disease, and to lighten the load of mankind
in various ways. Large sums of money were
given for hospitals, charitable institutions,
and colleges, and for other kinds of phil-
1145
anthropic work, while private benevolences
were not uncommon. There was prosper-
ity, too, of a certain kind, and some peo-
ple were happy, or thought themselves so.
In the records of that as of every period
of our history, it is possible to ﬁnd rays of
light if we search for them, and I tell you
these things in order that you may get a fair
understanding of the situation, for in what
1146
follows you will see something of the other
side.
”I think I shall not err if I say that the
gigantic evil of the times, that from which
others sprang, was the inordinate love of
money. Even political power, by which the
opportunity was obtained of doing public
service, was too often sought merely for the
better chance one had of making money, as
1147
the saying was. In the revolt against aris-
tocratic government, the tendency in our
race of going from one extreme to the other
was again shown, and universal suﬀrage was
adopted. This would have been wise if intel-
ligence and honesty had also been universal.
But the result proved it to be an exceed-
ingly bad policy, for it created a large class
of voters who held the high privilege of cit-
1148
izenship so meanly, and were themselves so
venal, that they would even sell their votes
to the highest bidder. This, supplemented
by the immorality of some of the intelli-
gent citizens, made politics corrupt and the
name of politician too often a by-word.
”In doing business, by which was meant
buying and selling and manufacturing, also
ﬁnancial dealings and commerce, the pas-
1149
sion for money-getting was particularly promi-
nent. An astonishingly small percentage of
those that went into business, as they said,
made a success, if we except the large man-
ufacturers, but in spite of that it was a pop-
ular way of earning a livelihood. One thing
that made it popular was the fact that there
was always more or less speculation in it.
The haste to get rich made men too care-
1150
less of the rights of others.”
”Do you mean that all business was con-
ducted dishonestly?” I asked.
”No,” answered Thorwald, ”not as men
looked at it then. There was a great deal
of downright knavery in business, but there
was another class who satisﬁed their con-
sciences by being as honest as they could.
The thoughtful ones knew the system was
1151
wrong but felt themselves utterly unable to
replace it by a better one, and feeling no
responsibility for it, they were satisﬁed to
smother their sensibilities and drift along.
They had their living to make, and, though
they were not making it in an ideal way,
they did not know that any other kind of
work would be more satisfactory to their
uneasy consciences.”
1152
”Excuse me, Thorwald,” I said; ”I am
dull. What was there wrong in their man-
ner of doing business?”
”Can you see nothing wrong,” he an-
swered, ”in a system where one man’s for-
tune was built on the ruins of another’s,
or perhaps a score of others, or where a
business was started and increased solely
by drawing from another one already estab-
1153
lished?”
”Why,” said I, ”that is competition, which
they no doubt thought better than monopoly.
I can imagine that they argued that a man’s
ﬁrst duty was to himself and his family, that
one had a right to go into any legitimate
business, and that others must take care of
themselves. The evil, if there was any, they
probably felt was incident to the nature of
1154
business and could not be helped. I would
like to ask how society could exist with any
other business rules.”
As I closed it struck me that I had spo-
ken pretty fast and without much discre-
tion, and the impression was not removed
as Thorwald answered with dignity:
”I am telling you the state of things on
this planet thousands of years ago, and it is
1155
a suﬃcient answer to your question to say
that society at the present day is not gov-
erned on any such principles; still, we seem
to exist. It was a favorite saying in those
days that ’a man must live,’ and one that
was used as an argument or excuse for ques-
tionable practices. The premise was wrong;
it was not necessary to live: death would
have been far better for the world and for
1156
the individual than a dishonorable life. So
with society at large; better a change in
the social structure, caused by an awakened
conscience, than a state of peace founded on
wrong principles. Our history proves that
no particular plan of society is necessary to
the world and that no order based on self-
ishness or injustice can long endure. But
do not imagine such changes were easy or
1157
swift in accomplishment. They came, not
by violence nor by the device of crafty men,
but only through the universal betterment
of the race, whereby a state of things that
had been considered good enough, and then
endured as the best attainable, became at
last positively wrong and was slowly pushed
aside by a growing sense of right.
”To return to your ﬁrst question, as to
1158
what there was wrong in their way of do-
ing business, I want to say with emphasis
that the essence of the wrong was in an
undue regard for self and an almost total
disregard for the interests of others. There
were exceptions to the rule, notably in the
direction of charity and philanthropy and
in religious work, but I am speaking of the
mass of the business community. It was ev-
1159
ery man singly against all the rest of the
world. No man was his brother’s keeper. If
one did not look out for himself, that was
the end of it; there was no one else to do
it.”
”But the system itself made men self-
ish,” I ventured to say.
”To be sure it did,” he replied. ”But
why did they not then abolish the system
1160
before it had brought upon them its long
train of evils? It had to go at last.”
”But,” I asked again, ”was not compe-
tition a good thing for the large number
of people not directly engaged in business?
Did it not keep down the prices on all kinds
of commodities?”
”Certainly not in the main. It increased
prices, because it increased the cost of ev-
1161
erything. But let us suppose a case where
it had the eﬀect you suggest. Could a man
with a heart wear a coat, for example, with
any pleasure, if he knew that rivalry be-
tween the manufacturers had forced the peo-
ple who made the garment to accept star-
vation wages? And this was done, not from
humanitarian motives, to furnish the poor
with cheap clothing, but for the purpose
1162
of getting more business and so of making
more money.”
I could hardly resist the temptation at
this point of asking Thorwald if he had not
been reading up on the current history of
the earth, but I knew well enough that was
not possible, for we had brought no books
with us. And then I did not care to tell
Thorwald just yet how near he was coming
1163
to our experience. But I could not endure
having the props knocked from under our
social structure without another eﬀort to
save it. So I said:
”But were not the great majority of busi-
ness men honest, and were not these in-
stances that you have cited extreme cases?”
”They were the natural results of a bad
system. A great many men were as hon-
1164
est as their environment would permit, and
they tried to convince themselves that they
were not responsible for the environment.”
”Were they?” I asked eagerly.
”When they at last discovered that they
were, then began a radical change. I am
not exaggerating the evils of the times. I
am merely setting them forth to show you
how our race has improved with its matu-
1165
rity. If my purpose required it, I could de-
tail many good things in the life of that peo-
ple. One bright point in their character, to
which I just now referred, I will illustrate.
My boy, who is also my student in drawing,
will never be able to make a straight line
until he can see that the line he has already
made is not straight. His improvement de-
pends upon more than a steady hand. So
1166
with this people. Deep down in their being,
planted by a divine hand, were the instinct
of truth and the principle of growth, and
when, in the natural course of their devel-
opment, they came to realize how unworthy
they were of their better nature, they set
about the work of improvement.
”But they came to that knowledge through
many sad experiences. I have not begun to
1167
tell you the number and extent of the evils
they endured.
”The desire for money aﬀected all classes.
The general prosperity had bettered the con-
dition of the wage-earners, creating many
artiﬁcial wants which could not be satis-
ﬁed without good pay. Hence arose a nat-
ural and constant eﬀort to obtain higher
wages, while competition among the em-
1168
ployers operated just as constantly to keep
them down, and the result was a sharp and
increasing antagonism between capital and
labor. The general public shared in the
blame for this state of things by reason of
the almost universal demand for cheap goods.
”While the introduction of machinery
was a real advance, whose beneﬁts we are
reaping to this day, other conditions had
1169
not become adjusted to it at the time of
which we are speaking, so that there was
often a surplus of workmen, especially in
the lower grades of labor. This had a ten-
dency to reduce wages, of course; and the
want of employment, improvidence in the
use of small wages, intemperance and other
immoralities, ignorance and misfortune, all
combined to keep part of the people in poverty.
1170
On the other hand, it was a time of great
wealth and luxurious living, and these two
classes, so far apart in their manner of life
but often so near each other in all their self-
ish aims, seemed to have a strong mutual
attraction, for they were always found to-
gether, crowding upon each other in every
large city.
”One of the most diﬃcult things for us
1171
of the present day to imagine is, how per-
sons of reﬁnement and sensibility, living in
comfort and without a care, could take any
pleasure in life when they knew that within
a stone’s throw of their doors were human
beings who, very often through no fault of
their own, were so destitute that a crust
would relieve their want, or so friendless
that a kind word would make them shed
1172
tears of joy. Oh! I cannot comprehend
it, and yet the record tells us there were
cases of just that nature, where such peo-
ple, without lifting a ﬁnger to alleviate the
distress, actually laughed and were happy.
Happy! What could they know of happi-
ness? The word must have changed its mean-
ing wonderfully, if we think of what it sig-
niﬁes to-day.”
1173
CHAPTER XXIX.
THE INDUSTRIAL PROBLEM.
Thorwald continued as follows:
”The unpleasant relations existing be-
tween the employers and the employees cre-
ated a host of troubles. It was an unreason-
able feeling, because the interests of the two
classes were identical. But as capital was
1174
consolidated and great corporations were
formed for extensive operations in trans-
portation and manufacturing, the relation
between the two became very impersonal
and diﬃcult to control. In order to protect
their interests the wage-earners organized
into unions, brotherhoods, etc., almost ev-
ery trade and calling having its own orga-
nization.
1175
”When these associations were ﬁrst formed
much stress was laid upon their incidental
beneﬁts, such as assistance in time of sick-
ness, care of the families of deceased mem-
bers, the holding of meetings for discus-
sion and mutual improvement, and the es-
tablishment of reading-rooms and libraries.
These commendable objects would have been
a suﬃcient excuse for the existence of these
1176
bodies, and other legitimate ends might have
been sought, but the labor unions did not
stop there. They instituted and set in mo-
tion the powerful machinery of the strike,
as it was called, making it eﬀective by bind-
ing their members, under severe penalties,
to stop work when they were ordered to do
so by their leaders. They also practiced the
severest measures of intimidation upon non-
1177
union men, to prevent them from getting
employment.
”Thus the trades-unions, too often gov-
erned by incompetent men, became a mighty
power for evil. Strikes and lockouts were
common, and were followed by loss of wages
and consequent suﬀering, while the bitter-
ness of feeling between the two classes con-
stantly increased. To meet the rising power
1178
of the labor organizations, the employers
felt obliged to form combinations among
themselves and sometimes also to employ
bodies of armed men to protect their prop-
erty. Then, when a strike came, conﬂicts
would follow so serious that appeal had to
be made to the last resort, the military arm
of the nation. Here another evil threatened,
for the individual soldiers would sometimes
1179
prove to be in deep sympathy with the work-
men who were making the trouble. At such
crises, also, there would appear on the scene
the anarchist, who wanted to overthrow so-
ciety at once in the hope of bringing himself
out nearer the top, and who was kept com-
paratively harmless in quiet times.
”You can imagine something of the dis-
order and apprehension caused by these trou-
1180
bles. No contract for work could be made
without the stipulation that its fulﬁllment
must depend upon freedom from strikes in
that particular trade, and no man could
start on a journey with any certainty that
he would be allowed to ﬁnish it in peace and
at the appointed time.
”To decide how these evils should be
remedied proved to be one of the great-
1181
est problems ever presented to the people
of that age.
”Political sages had long before promul-
gated the doctrine upon which society was
governed, that every man had a natural right
to life, liberty, and his own method of pur-
suing happiness. Now, both sides in the
conﬂict claimed to be following closely the
spirit of this fundamental doctrine. The
1182
workingmen declared that they had a per-
fect right to organize and to induce all their
number to join the unions. They said the
individual relation between them and the
employers had had its day and that experi-
ence was proving to them that every conces-
sion and privilege they hoped to get must
come through their associations, working
through the medium of an agent or com-
1183
mittee. As independent citizens they could
not obey laws and regulations in the making
of which they had no voice, and their love
of personal liberty would not allow them to
accept the wages and hours of service which
their employers might, without asking their
consent, choose to prescribe. In case of dis-
agreement they asserted their right to stop
the whole business, at whatever loss to the
1184
employers or inconvenience to the public,
and to prevent, if possible, new men from
taking their places.
”On the other hand, the employers, while
not denying to the workmen the right to
form associations for legitimate purposes,
insisted that this right was being abused.
They claimed that they should be allowed
to hire whom they pleased and dismiss in-
1185
competent men when it was best for their
business, without regard to their member-
ship or non-membership in a union.
”As time went on the trouble increased
and society was fast forming itself into classes
with opposing aims and mutual dislike. The
time had been when a workman, by skill
and diligence, could rise above his station
and become a large proprietor himself. But
1186
with the new order this was hardly possible,
and civilization, in this respect, seemed to
be retrogressing.
”You may wonder why the lawmakers
did not correct the evil at once, but the
fact was that the legislatures were made
up of representatives from the two classes,
and so were undecided as to what reme-
dies to apply. It was proposed by some
1187
to enact a law preventing a man from sell-
ing himself into slavery, or, in other words,
from giving up his liberty of action into the
keeping of others, a thing which had caused
much suﬀering. In every strike a large part
of the men, earning small wages and with
families dependent on these wages for their
bread from one day to another, would be
obliged to quit work against their will. It
1188
was thought, therefore, a ﬁt subject of leg-
islation to enjoin them from binding them-
selves to strike at the dictation of others,
when it was against their judgment. It was
suggested, also, to make the intimidation or
coercion of non-union men a criminal act.
”When these measures were suggested
the cry was raised that the workingmen were
to be deprived of their liberty and made the
1189
slaves of capital. The labor parties in the
legislatures were assisted by a class of politi-
cians who were made cowards through fear
of losing the workingmen’s votes, and this
gave these parties the power to defeat all
measures of which they disapproved, and
to pass laws in their own interest. They
claimed that they should be protected as
well as the manufacturer, and so they made
1190
it lawful for the government to inspect all
industries and to see that the employees
received an equitable share of the proﬁts.
This was radical action, but they went still
further, and took away from every employer
the right of discharging men for any cause
without the consent of the union; and full
power to ﬁx the hours of service and the
wages was put into the hands of the gov-
1191
ernment inspectors and the representatives
of the trades- unions. The wages were to
be based on what the inspectors found to
be the proﬁts of the business, and the help
or advice of the proprietors was not to be
taken. As these astonishing rules governed
even the farmer and shopkeeper as well as
the manufacturer, you can imagine that there
was not much satisfaction in trying to carry
1192
on any business.
”The laboring classes were beginning to
discover that they were a large majority of
the community and that there was a mighty
power in the ballot. Their opponents, on
the other hand, having lost the control in
politics through universal suﬀrage, now bent
their energies still more to the work of com-
bining large interests under one manage-
1193
ment, hoping to wield in this way a power
too formidable to be withstood. Immense
trusts were formed in almost every branch
of business, and the syndicate gradually took
the place of the ﬁrm and individual corpo-
ration.
”A long time previous to the period of
which we are speaking, the people had put
part of their business into the hands of the
1194
government, with the idea that it would be
done with more promptness and also with
more economy. A good example of this was
seen in the excellent mail service, which the
national government conducted much more
satisfactorily than it could have been done
by private enterprise.
”The local governments, also, had full
control of the highways and bridges and the
1195
common schools, hospitals, etc., while in
large communities, at great expense, they
stored and distributed water for domestic
and other purposes. As the people had re-
ceived undoubted beneﬁts from this state of
things, there were few to object to it, and
even their objection was more for theoreti-
cal than practical reasons. It is not strange,
therefore, that as the troublous times ap-
1196
proached these functions of the state should
be multiplied. Besides the gain in conve-
nience and in cost that thus came to the
people, they began to rely on the strong
arm of the government for protection from
the uncertainties and interruptions incident
to private control of many kinds of business.
”As the telegraph and telephone came
into more general use the government found
1197
it necessary to add their facilities to the
mail service, in order to give the people
the best means of communication. From
this point the step was soon taken of as-
suming control of all the telegraph and tele-
phone lines, in the interest of lower prices
and better service. This was attended with
such good results that it was thought wise
to extend the conveniences of the mail in
1198
another direction; and instead of carrying a
few small parcels the government took into
its hands the entire express business, and it
was not long before everybody conceded it
to be a good move.
”At the same time, the municipal gov-
ernments began to exhibit the same pater-
nal character. They ﬁrst took control of the
lighting and heating facilities, and this led
1199
in a short time to their furnishing the peo-
ple with fuel, which was generally brought
from a distance, and which, in private hands,
always had a way of going up in price at just
the time when the poor people were obliged
to buy it. For the sake of economy, also, the
cities took possession of all street cars, cabs,
and omnibuses.
”Aﬀairs had reached this condition when
1200
the labor troubles became so serious, and
this absorption of private business by the
government was so recent and was in gen-
eral so satisfactory, that men could but think
of it in connection with their eﬀorts to solve
the industrial problems. The time had now
come when some radical measures must be
adopted to preserve and extend civilization.
The labor party were abusing their power
1201
still more in making bad laws, and strikes
became more frequent, and were followed
by rioting and bloodshed. At length the in-
terruptions to business occasioned by the ir-
regularities in traveling became unbearable.
The public demanded better service, but
the railroad companies were powerless to
render it, being in the hands of the employ-
ees, who at the slightest grievance would
1202
stop every wheel till the dispute was settled.
The trouble generally started with one road
and spread to the others by sympathy, and
the result was just as disastrous to business
whether the men gained their end or not.
”There had always been a party, although
at times pretty feeble, in favor of govern-
ment control of the entire transportation
business. This party now argued that that
1203
was the only thing that would cure these
evils, and they gained thereby many new
adherents. When it was considered that
government ownership of the telegraph was
working well in spite of many adverse prophe-
cies, the people began to entertain the idea
that it would perhaps be best to try the ex-
periment with the railroads, especially as it
gave some promise of relief from the strikes.
1204
To be sure, it would add to the government
service immense numbers of men, and in-
crease a danger that had always been threat-
ening, that of making too large a list of civil
oﬃcers to be managed without great cor-
ruption.
”But now it was not long before a large
majority of the people asked to have the
trial made, and soon all railroads, canals,
1205
and steamboats were in the hands of the
general government. The employees were
formed into an army, with oﬃcers of all
grades, and put under strict military dis-
cipline. At the least show of insubordi-
nation a man was discharged, never to be
reemployed, and although this caused some
hardship in individual cases at ﬁrst, it put
an eﬀectual stop to the strikes and kept
1206
business moving. The best of the workmen
had been among the strongest advocates
of national ownership, and as the move-
ment gained in favor no class were so satis-
ﬁed with the change as the employees them-
selves. Work was steady, wages were regu-
lar, faithfulness and length of service were
rewarded, and the aged and feeble were re-
tired on pensions.
1207
”In this way peace had come in one de-
partment of labor, but war still raged among
the manufacturers and in the building and
other trades. The workingmen literally held
the reins in society, but did not know enough
to drive away from the rocks. Instead of
taking advantage of shorter hours and higher
wages to improve their minds and prepare
themselves for a better condition, they were
1208
too apt to waste their energies in denounc-
ing the capitalists and in trying to force
still greater concessions from their unwill-
ing employers. They would loudly demand
that every ancient wrong endured by them
should be redressed, and then, to show their
idea of right, they would compel a builder,
in the middle of a contract, where time was
more precious than money, to give them
1209
higher wages than had been agreed on; or
they would boycott to bankruptcy a small
shopkeeper who innocently bought goods
that happened to be made by non-union
workmen.
”But do not imagine that the wrong was
all on one side. There were employers who
were unjust and cruel when they had the
power, unreasonable in argument, and boor-
1210
ish and exasperating in their manners. Many
seemed to think they were a diﬀerent class
of beings because they had more money than
their workmen, and they resented the idea
of the latter rising above the station in which
they were born. They raised wages only
when forced to do so, and considered any
amount of proﬁt made out of their men per-
fectly legitimate. When want came they
1211
would give in charity to the unfortunate
ones that which really belonged to them
by right. These disagreeable qualities were
not possessed alone by such as were em-
ployers. There was a class of rich people
not engaged in business, and although they
had the greatest interest in the perpetuity
of society as it was, many of them consid-
ered themselves as members of a superior
1212
caste, and looked down with disdain upon
the majority of mankind, and the real mas-
ters of the situation, who had to work for
their daily bread.
”It was against this class especially that
anarchy was forging its thunderbolt. The
freedom of the press and freedom of speech
gave the socialist and anarchist the oppor-
tunity to promulgate their seditious doc-
1213
trines, and they looked to the ignorant and
depraved portions of the community for ad-
herents. By the successful risings of the
people against despotic power the word ’rev-
olution’ had gained a certain nobility of sound
and meaning, and now these incendiaries
employed it to mislead the credulous. They
promised an overturning by which all prop-
erty and money should become a common
1214
fund and be redistributed on a more eq-
uitable basis, and it is perhaps not to be
wondered at that some poor, ignorant ones,
seeing the vast inequalities in life, should be
carried away with their arguments. The vi-
sion of a society where all should share alike
and live on the same scale of comfort was
intoxicating. But the scheme of the anar-
chist was not based on love and a desire to
1215
promote true brotherhood. Judging from
the violent means proposed to bring about
the change, it seemed rather to be based
on hate. In preaching their doctrine of per-
sonal license they were stealing the livery of
freedom in which to serve their selﬁsh lusts.
”While the vicious and ignorant thus
threatened society on the one hand, the ac-
cumulation of enormous wealth by a few
1216
fortunate, or unfortunate, men was thought
by some to be a menace equally serious. It
was argued that this could not go on with-
out making the poor poorer and more nu-
merous, and thus emphasizing and perpet-
uating the separation of the two classes.
”I need not point out to you a fact that
you must realize, namely, that the spring of
action with too many men, the one cause
1217
of the troubles that really threatened the
foundations of society, was selﬁshness. Can
you imagine any danger from all these move-
ments if men could have suddenly become
unselﬁsh, really unselﬁsh?
”I hope I have not given you the idea
that all the world of people had lost their
heads. As in the history of nations of that
period war seems to have been the principal
1218
occupation, so in the social life of the people
the evils and dangers are most prominently
seen. But all this time there was a large
party of men and women who were alive to
the perils of the hour, and intent on seek-
ing the best means to overcome them. This
party was made up of many representatives
of every class, rich and poor, workingmen
and employers, and included the great mass
1219
of the intelligent and thoughtful members of
society.
”The general and local governments were
carrying on, with marked success and with-
out friction, certain kinds of business, while
in many other departments there were dis-
order and possible ruin. Time brought no
healing power; the troubles increased and
were now truly gigantic. Where should help
1220
be found?”
As Thorwald paused here, the doctor,
who, I thought, had been wanting to speak
for some time, took occasion to say:
”Don’t tell us, Thorwald, that this peo-
ple turned over all their business, both in-
dustrial and professional, to the government,
and made machines of themselves. I am be-
coming exceedingly interested in them and
1221
hope they found some better release from
their woes. I am sure there are a number
of methods of relief which they might have
tried.”
”I am glad you have spoken, Doctor,”
answered Thorwald, ”or I might have talked
you to death. We must really break oﬀ now
and get out of doors.”
Mona listened to diﬀerent portions of
1222
the foregoing conversation. It was dull amuse-
ment for her, as we could see by her actions,
and we wondered at ﬁrst why she showed
so little interest in it. She did not seem
to realize the full signiﬁcance of her unique
position in our circle. As the last repre-
sentative of the race of moon men, she had
now the opportunity of learning something
of the history of two sister worlds, and one
1223
would suppose that she would have been
eager to hear every word we said. She had
expressed herself more than once as anxious
to know all any of us could tell her, nor did
she hesitate to ask questions continually–
and intelligent questions, too. But she was
sympathetic only in certain directions, hav-
ing a laudable curiosity to hear about any
of the pleasant phases of society, either on
1224
the earth or on Mars. But when Thorwald
talked of the former troubles experienced by
his race, or when we compared these with
the miseries of our own times on the earth,
Mona became an indiﬀerent listener.
She was sitting with us when Thorwald
proposed the out-door exercise, and so we
all went out together. As we walked, Thor-
wald said:
1225
”Mona, I fear you have not been en-
joying my tedious talk this morning. You
would be better pleased, I am sure, with
some other topic.”
In her sweet accents, so charming to ev-
ery ear, Mona responded:
”I hope my lack of attention did not give
you oﬀense, Thorwald, but I do not under-
stand the things you have talked about to-
1226
day.”
”Not understand? Why, I know from
former conversations with you that such things
are not beyond your comprehension.”
”Thank you,” said Mona, ”but I think
they are, for I never before heard anything
like the ideas you have advanced.”
”We shall all be glad to learn, then, how
these questions were answered and these
1227
wrongs righted by your ancestors.”
”They never had any such perplexities,”
responded Mona.
”Which means, I presume,” said Thor-
wald, ”that the race became so far advanced
before your time that the records and tra-
ditions of their early struggles were all for-
gotten.”
”Oh, no,” she sang out, ”that’s not it.
1228
What had they to struggle over?”
”Was it then so easy for them to be
just?” asked Thorwald.
”Certainly, and I have been exceedingly
surprised to learn by your long talk that
there is such a thing as injustice.”
We were all becoming thoroughly inter-
ested, but left it for Thorwald to continue
his questions.
1229
”Mona,” said he, ”do you mean that
your people, even in the remote past, were
entirely ignorant of such troubles as we have
been speaking about?”
”Yes, and of all other troubles. I am
sure there was always only peace and hap-
piness on the moon. Strife and hatred, sor-
row, want, and misery are all strange words
to me, and entirely unknown except as I
1230
have heard them in your conversation.”
”Was there never any sickness there?” I
asked.
”I don’t know the meaning of the word,”
she replied. ”Is it another item in the gen-
eral unpleasantness of the times you have
been describing? I wonder that your race,
Thorwald, ever survived those rude days.”
”But,” asked Thorwald, ”what think you
1231
of the earth? The doctor and his compan-
ion say their planet is now passing through
just such a period.”
”Well, all I can say is that I am thankful
I was not discovered till after the moon had
deserted the earth.”
”Tell us more about your race,” said the
doctor. ”Were they all as good as you are?”
”Just the same. There were no degrees
1232
in goodness.”
”And did they all sing as they talked,
and in such sweet tones as yours?” I asked.
”Oh, many sang better than I do, and
all made music of their words. I never heard
speech that was not melodious till you and
the doctor came to see me.”
”And did everything else in your life there
correspond to your charming manner of talk-
1233
ing?” asked Thorwald.
”Why, yes, I think so,” answered Mona.
”It was a delightful world. Everything was
bright and joyous, with no shadow of dis-
content nor anything to cause sadness or
discomfort. Do you wonder that I could
not sympathize with your story of wrongs
and sorrows, the very nature of which was
a new revelation to me?”
1234
Mona’s notions about the people whom
she represented seemed strange and improb-
able to us, and we attributed them to the
inﬂuence of her own guileless nature. One
so innocent and whole-hearted as she was
would naturally clothe her ancestors with
at least the virtues and graces she herself
possessed. However, we had no means of
proving Mona’s ideas to be false. We had
1235
brought away from the moon no records of
any kind by which to study its history, and
of that history Mona was as yet our only in-
terpreter. But every word she spoke on this
subject only added intensity to the pleasur-
able anticipation with which these Martians
looked forward to their study of the moon
and its former inhabitants.
1236
CHAPTER XXX.
ATTEMPTS TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM.
It was not till the next day that we sat
down together again to continue the conver-
sation. Remembering what the doctor had
said, Thorwald began:
”In sketching for you the history of that
age of activity and change in our career, I
1237
was in such fear of wearying you with dry
details that I hurried along and omitted the
very things to which you refer, Doctor. This
people did try all the experiments that sug-
gested themselves, and if you think your pa-
tience will endure it I will speak of a few of
them.”
We both assured him that we would gladly
listen, and that we considered ourselves for-
1238
tunate in having such an instructor. He
was merely telling us about a certain pe-
riod in the history of Mars, but if he had
known how nearly he had been coming to
the course of events on the earth he would
not have wondered that we were so eager to
hear all he had to say.
”Quite early in the labor diﬃculties,”
he resumed, ”state arbitration had its day;
1239
a short one, however, for the appointment
of the arbitrators soon became a matter of
partisan politics, and their inﬂuence was
gone. Whichever side was in power could
appoint a board that would be prejudiced in
favor of that side from the start, and when
the trouble came the other party would not
have conﬁdence enough in their judgment
to accept their decision.
1240
”Next, laws were passed making arbitra-
tion compulsory, but allowing the arbitra-
tors to be chosen at the time of the strike,
the employer to name one, the workmen
one, and these two to ﬁnd the third. This
did some good as long as only ﬁrst class
men were selected, but a few ﬂagrant cases
occurred where the arbitrators, who were
allowed to inspect the books of the concern,
1241
made public the private aﬀairs of the busi-
ness, to the great injury of the owners. This
brought the law into disfavor, and, as there
was no provision for enforcing the decisions,
it came to pass that they were often dis-
regarded, and so, before long, this plan of
settling disputes was also abandoned.
”For a good many years no other sub-
ject so completely ﬁlled the public mind
1242
as this very troublesome one, and people
of all professions were continually suggest-
ing remedies. It was held by many to be
a good working theory that the employees
in every business, whether industrial, mer-
cantile, or ﬁnancial, were entitled to some
share in the proﬁts over and above their
compensation in wages. This was disputed
by the large majority of the employers, who
1243
claimed that their contract with the work-
men was a simple one, by which they agreed
to work so many hours for so much pay, and
as this was their due even if the business
proved a losing one, so they had no just
claim to anything more if it were success-
ful the employees had nothing to do or say
about the question of proﬁts. On the other
hand, where a number of men had, by long
1244
and faithful service, a strict regard for the
welfare of the business, and loyalty to all of
the employer’s interests, helped to build up
a great industry, an increasing number of
people, not only the wage earners but many
others not directly interested, felt that the
workmen had fairly gained, if not a share
in the proprietorship, at least some consid-
eration from the owners. This feeling was
1245
especially strong in cases where the laws of
the land had materially aided the success
of the business, and where the proﬁts were
unusually large.
”I want to say, in passing, that it is by
such indications as the existence of this sen-
timent that we can see, all through those
troublous times, the gradual improvement
of the race.
1246
”As some of the employers came to be
impressed with the same thought, they be-
gan in a quiet way trying the experiment
of giving their men a bonus at the end of
the year, proportioned to the amount of
wages they earned. In some cases this gave
place after a time to the plan of making the
workmen regular partners, and giving them
a certain percentage of the proﬁts in lieu
1247
of wages. But when a time of general de-
pression came and the percentage did not
amount to as much as their old pay had
been, the men felt as though they had been
led into a trap, and after they had endured
the situation for a time they were glad to
return to the former system.
”Another scheme that was extensively
tried was cooperation among the working-
1248
men, both in manufacturing and mercan-
tile business. The argument, which was a
plausible one, was that the expense of big
salaries for management, together with the
enormous proﬁts, would all be available for
dividends. The results showed that in the
long run the proﬁts, in all but exceptional
cases, were not more than a fair interest on
the investment, and as to the salaries, it
1249
was found that ﬁnancial and business abil-
ity was scarce and costly, and yet necessary
to success. The associations of working-
men were willing to put their money into
buildings, machinery, and stock, and the
men were ready to work hard themselves,
but they were not willing to pay for skill
in management, and so their failure was in-
evitable. At the same time they still held
1250
to the opinion, which was at the bottom of
these experiments, that under the old sys-
tem the owners and managers of the busi-
ness got too much of the proﬁts and the
operatives too little. Is there anything else,
Doctor, that you think these people might
have tried?”
”I am not satisﬁed,” the doctor answered,
”with their eﬀorts at proﬁt- sharing. It
1251
seems to me that that scheme, under proper
management, ought to have brought the two
classes together by giving them a common
interest in every enterprise, and so to have
gradually done away with all bitterness and
strife. Employers might have used a part
of their surplus proﬁts in building better
houses for their men, in giving them in-
struction as to a nobler way of living, in
1252
opening libraries and bath- houses and cook-
ing schools and savings banks, in keeping
them insured against sickness and death,
and in doing a thousand things to show
the men that they were thoughtful of their
comfort and welfare. If the workmen could
discover by such means that the employ-
ers were really their friends, I think it must
have disarmed their hatred and antagonism.
1253
Then if, with these beneﬁts, they could have
received in money a small percentage above
their usual wages, they would certainly have
repaid such friendliness by a service so faith-
ful and an industry so constant as to more
than make up, in increased proﬁts, for all
the philanthropic expenditures.”
”Doctor,” said Thorwald, ”I am pleased
to see you take such an interest in this sub-
1254
ject. You talk as though you had thought of
it before, and you have outlined almost the
exact course pursued by the people of whom
we are speaking. Hundreds of such experi-
ments were tried and persisted in for a long
time, both before the serious labor troubles
began and after. Among their strongest ad-
vocates were men of theory in the profes-
sions, who were actuated by high motives
1255
but did not appreciate the practical diﬃ-
culties. They were pretty sure they could
get along with the workingmen without so
much friction. But the proﬁt-sharing scheme
also had the aid of many excellent men among
the employers, as I have said. However,
for one reason or another, the experiments
all came to naught. In some cases great
expense was entered into to provide com-
1256
forts for the workmen, and after a few pros-
perous years depression followed and the
proprietors found they had undertaken too
much. Several large failures, brought about
by such lack of judgment, helped to pro-
duce disappointment and discouragement.
Then it was found by experience that the
evil-disposed among the workmen were not
to be converted into honest, industrious,
1257
and faithful employees in any such whole-
sale manner. Making men over could not
be done in the block. There never had been
any diﬃculty in dealing with the sober, rea-
sonable, well-intentioned men. The trouble
had all come from the vicious, the incompe-
tent, and the shiftless ones. And the more
privileges this class obtained, the more they
demanded. If their working day was made
1258
shorter in order to give them the opportu-
nity of taking advantage of the free facili-
ties for improving their minds, they loudly
demanded another hour each day and fre-
quent holidays, with the liberty of spend-
ing their leisure time as best suited their
tastes. If they were given a share of the
proﬁts, they complained because it was so
small a share, and thought they were being
1259
cheated when the proprietors would not let
them inspect the books to see if the prof-
its were not larger than represented. Then
as partners they claimed the right to be
consulted in the management of the busi-
ness. Such demands brought on disputes,
of course; and the natural result was that
strikes were not unknown even in these hu-
manitarian establishments. As the labor or-
1260
ganizations were then in full blast the bet-
ter class of men were drawn into the strikes,
which sometimes became so serious that the
owners were compelled to give up their phil-
anthropic eﬀorts and go back to the old sys-
tem of giving what they were obliged to and
getting what they could in return.
”In general, employers found they had
still an unanswered problem on their hands.
1261
An undue spirit of independence had been
fostered among a class of uneducated, ill-
natured, and thick-headed workmen, and
society was rocked to its foundation in the
eﬀort to keep them within bounds.”
”Will you let me make another sugges-
tion, Thorwald?” asked the doctor. ”Why
did not all classes approach this diﬃculty in
a businesslike way and work together to re-
1262
move it? Why did not the state see that the
right of private contract was a safe and use-
ful one for all sides, and cease to infringe on
it by law? Why did not the public teachers
make a combined and continued eﬀort to in-
still a conciliatory spirit into both sides, and
to show how peace and brotherly feeling
would be a mutual blessing? Why did not
the employers–not one here and there, but
1263
all of them–treat their men as they would
like to be treated in their place, make friends
with them, talk reason even to unreason-
able men, speak kindly to the unfriendly
ones, urge the value of sobriety upon the
intemperate, teach the incompetent, sym-
pathize with the unfortunate, try to reclaim
the vicious instead of turning them oﬀ harshly,
and in every way strive to prove themselves
1264
to the men as beings of the same ﬂesh and
blood with them? And why did not the
workingmen receive what was done for them
with the right spirit–give up their envious
and suspicious feelings, improve every pre-
cious chance of getting knowledge, work for
their employers as they would for them-
selves, cease to use the power of the unions
unjustly, cultivate amicable relations with
1265
everybody, and try in all possible ways to
make true men of themselves? If the men
had worked along this line they would have
found they were bettering themselves in ev-
ery way faster than they could by strikes
and conﬂicts.”
”Ah! Doctor,” replied Thorwald, ”you
have now the true solution. Such action
would have annihilated the diﬃculties in a
1266
day. But to suppose every employer and ev-
ery workman capable of following such good
advice is to suppose that the world had then
reached an almost ideal condition. The very
existence and character of the troubles show
how imperfect men were. It was a com-
mon saying then that human nature was the
same as it had been in the earliest days and
that it would never change while the world
1267
should stand. This was a mistaken view, for
there had been a great change. The heart
had lost much of its selﬁshness and had be-
gun to grasp in some slight measure a sense
of that distant but high destiny to which it
had been called.”
”If the world,” said the doctor, ”was not
good enough for these troubles to be cured
by kindness, I am anxious to know how
1268
they were healed. I am sure you can tell
us, for those people were your remote an-
cestors and you are far removed from such
vexations now.”
”That is true,” said Thorwald. ”I can
tell you how this social problem was solved,
and how our race has found release from the
many dangers that have threatened us. It
has not been by man’s device or invention.
1269
But God, whose arm alone has been our
defense, has always called men to his aid,
and thus, in his own time and way, help has
come in every crisis. The most important
changes in society have been brought about
gradually and without violence, and with
that hint I think we had better leave this
subject for the present. Some day I want to
go over with you brieﬂy the history of the
1270
work and inﬂuence of the gospel of Jesus in
the world, and it will then be ﬁtting to refer
again to the period of which we have just
now been speaking.
”I am sure you will ﬁnd it a great re-
lief for me to change the subject, or stop
talking.”
”We will not object to your changing
the subject,” said I, ”whenever you think it
1271
best, but we shall try to keep you talking
till we know a great deal more about Mars
than we do now.”
CHAPTER XXXI.
WINE-DRINKING IN MARS.
I went downstairs the next morning be-
1272
fore the doctor was ready, and when I met
Thorwald I said, without thought: ”A ﬁne
morning.”
”Yes,” he replied, ”all our mornings are
ﬁne. I do not mean that the sun is always
shining or that we do not have clouds and
a variety of sky eﬀects, but we know the
clouds can be depended on not to give rain
till night.”
1273
”Do you not lose something by having
a perpetual calm?” I asked. ”For I under-
stand the rain in the night comes only in
gentle showers. In our rough world some of
us enjoy the grandeur of the storm.”
”How about those who are exposed to
its fury?” asked Thorwald in reply. ”I do
not see how anyone can really enjoy what is
sure to be bringing sorrow or even inconve-
1274
nience to others. Could a mother take plea-
sure in a tempest if she knew her son was in
danger of shipwreck from it? Why should
it change her feeling to know her son was
by her side and that it was only strangers
that were in danger?”
”But,” continued Thorwald, ”are you and
your friend ready for an excursion to-day?
If you are, I propose to give you a new ex-
1275
perience.”
”We shall be delighted to accompany
you, and as I see breakfast is ready I will
go up and tell the doctor to hurry.”
”Oh, I wouldn’t do that,” exclaimed Thor-
wald. ”You must try to learn to live as we
do, and you will remember I said the other
day that we are never in haste. If, for exam-
ple, it were Zenith who was late, I should
1276
never think of calling to her to hurry, for
I should know she must have a good ex-
cuse for staying. Her liberty of action is as
valuable to her as mine to me, and however
long she might keep me waiting, I should
feel sure that her action was the result of
right motives and correct reasoning. If the
doctor does not appear, we can easily post-
pone our excursion to to-morrow. There
1277
would be no lack of occupation for to-day.”
”What a delightful feeling it must be,”
I said, ”to be always free from hurry. It
is the commonest experience in our imper-
fect state for one to start a few minutes late
in the morning, and then be on a constant
jump all day to make them up. One of the
evils of our driving age is the wear and tear
of our nerves in what we consider a neces-
1278
sary haste to get there.”
”Get where?” asked Thorwald.
”To get anywhere or to do anything that
we set out to accomplish,” I answered.
”I fear,” said Thorwald, ”that I have
talked too much about Mars and not in-
sisted enough on hearing about the earth.
Suppose something should happen to break
oﬀ your visit?”
1279
”You wouldn’t miss much, Thorwald.”
”We certainly should regret exceedingly
not learning many things that you could tell
us,” he said.
”Yes,” I answered, ”but you cannot proﬁt
by our experiences, while we of the earth
are in a condition where we need all the
help and advice you have for us. If we
ever return to our home we want to tell all
1280
about your advanced civilization and how
you have overcome the evils that vex our
race. But I wonder why the doctor doesn’t
come. I think I will go and see, but I promise
not to interfere with his liberty of action.”
I soon returned with my friend, and we all
went to breakfast. The doctor said he would
not eat much, as he felt somewhat indis-
posed. Here was something new in the life
1281
of this household, and each one began to
express sympathy and ask what could be
done. The doctor was amused, and I said
I thought a good, hearty breakfast would
make him all right. But Thorwald insisted
that something unusual should be done, al-
though his inexperience was so great that
nothing feasible suggested itself at ﬁrst. Zenith
was in favor of all repairing to the library,
1282
hunting up the histories of the days when
people were ill, and ﬁnding out the proper
remedy for his ailment. This would have
been a logical proceeding, but I thought to
myself that they did not understand the
value of time in such cases and that the
doctor would probably either recover or die
while they were at work.
As I did not appear to be any more
1283
alarmed than my companion was, the ex-
citement soon subsided. But Thorwald was
not satisﬁed yet, and after some further thought
his face brightened and he asked me if a
glass of good wine would not be the thing
for the doctor. When I replied that it would
probably not hurt him, Thorwald told his
son to go and bring up a bottle of the old-
est wine in the cellar, and soon not only
1284
the patient but the members of the fam-
ily and myself were all partaking. No more
was heard after this of the doctor’s indispo-
sition, and Thorwald no doubt felicitated
himself that he had eﬀected a cure. The
situation was rather suggestive to me, and
while we were drinking, and eating our break-
fast, I could not refrain from saying:
”If some of our friends on the earth could
1285
see us now, Thorwald, we would be discred-
ited in all that we might say about your
higher condition. It would do no good to ex-
patiate on your ripe character and on your
attainments in knowledge and virtue. I fear
they would not believe much of it if they
knew that you not only drank wine your-
selves, but encouraged its use by giving it
to your guests.”
1286
”Why,” said Thorwald, ”you could tell
them the wine was brought out to be used
as a medicine, and that the rest of us drank
to keep the doctor company. But when you
see your friends you had better tell them the
truth at once, that while we all take wine
here frequently this is the only instance where
I have ever known it to be used medici-
nally.”
1287
”They would tell us,” said the doctor,
”that you have made one mistake at least,
and that it is a dangerous thing to have
wine in the house, and especially to give it
to children.”
”He would have a very gross and im-
perfect conception of our character,” said
Thorwald, ”who should have the thoughts
which you express. I can judge something
1288
of the nature of the feeling which you say
exists on the earth, however, for only a few
days ago I was reading a full account of
the diﬀerent temperance movements on our
planet. Few subjects in our history are more
interesting. Do not despise the temperance
reformers, and if you think they are some-
times too radical you can aﬀord to excuse
that for the sake of the absolute good they
1289
accomplish. All through the early part of
our career there was a perpetual warfare
against the drinking habit. At ﬁrst wine
was an ordinary article of food, and in some
countries more commonly used for drinking
than water. There was much abuse of it,
but in general people used it as a matter
of course, without thinking they were any
more responsible for the drunkards than they
1290
were for the intemperate in eating. But the
evil of overdrinking increased, and some re-
ligious reformers found that the easiest way
to check it was to forbid all use of intoxi-
cants. Here is an extreme example that I
have read of what one such reformer taught:
’If a single drop of alcoholic liquor should
fall into a well one hundred and ﬁfty feet
deep, and if the well should afterwards be
1291
ﬁlled up and grass grow over it, and a sheep
should eat of the grass, then my followers
must not partake of that mutton.’ Could
any of your prohibitionists be more radical
than that?
”In later times many kinds of strong and
poisonous drinks were made, and untold harm
was done by their use. Drunkenness was the
most fruitful source of crime and misery; it,
1292
more than any other cause, ﬁlled the jails,
the almshouses and the insane asylums; it
kept men in poverty and squalor; it scat-
tered families and changed men, and some-
times women, too, into beasts. No class
or profession was free from the evil, for it
disqualiﬁed the scholar and statesman for
their duties just as it unﬁtted the laborer
for his daily task. It helped to debauch
1293
politics and public morals, while it brought
disgrace and ruin to private reputation and
character. More money was lost by it than
was spent to educate and Christianize the
world, and it cost more precious lives than
war and pestilence combined. Being a crime
utterly selﬁsh and debasing, as well as ex-
tremely tenacious of its hold upon the indi-
vidual life, it was almost the greatest enemy
1294
to the spread of the gospel.
”Was there anything in the way of good
to be said of the drinking habit to oﬀset all
this harm? Men drank to be sociable and
companionable and to please their friends,
and when the habit was fastened on them
found they had lost every friend of value.
They took to their cups to drown their sor-
row, and found a sorrow more poignant among
1295
the dregs. They began the moderate use of
stimulants to give strength to the body or
activity to the brain, and discovered when
too late that their abuse had brought down
in common ruin both body and mind. No,
it is impossible that anyone should ever at-
tempt to make an argument in favor of drunk-
enness.
”The more active the age the more preva-
1296
lent was this evil, but the greater, also, was
the determination to overthrow it. When
the conscience was quickened by the growth
of Christianity and men’s lives became more
valued, many persistent eﬀorts were made
to stamp out the crime of intoxication.
”Numerous societies were organized and
good men and women entered heartily into
the work. Every argument was used to show
1297
the danger of the drink habit and to teach
the beauty and value of sobriety, appeal be-
ing made both to the reason and the con-
science. The power of the state was invoked
and punishment administered to the drunk-
ards, while the manufacture and sale of in-
toxicants were restricted and sometimes pro-
hibited. We see how ﬁrm a hold this evil
had on all classes when we read that very of-
1298
ten public sentiment would not permit these
beneﬁcent laws to be enforced. In all great
reforms the apathy of a large part of the
people has been a most discouraging fea-
ture.
”Of course it was never intrinsically wrong
to drink a glass of wine, but in view of
the enormous amount of sorrow and trou-
ble caused by overdrinking, can it be won-
1299
dered at that many earnest souls came to
abhor everything in the nature of intoxicat-
ing drink, and to practice and insist on total
abstinence? Oh, I can tell you if I lived on
the earth now I should be a radical of the
radicals on this subject.”
”Notwithstanding which,” said I, ”here
you are sitting at your own table and pour-
ing into our glasses this delicious wine.”
1300
As a smile passed around at this remark
it was Zenith who said:
”Do you see anything incongruous in that?”
I paused a moment to choose a reply,
when the doctor spoke up with:
”Far be it from us, Zenith, with our
earth-born ideas, to even seem to pass judg-
ment in this happy place, but I presume my
companion was trying to imagine what our
1301
temperance friends, who do not know you,
would say.”
”As for us,” said Thorwald, ”I trust we
shall be justiﬁed in your eyes at least, be-
fore we are through, but let us inquire about
those whom you call your temperance friends.
I suppose they would have a poor opinion
of a man who was loud in his public advo-
cacy of temperance and yet drank wine at
1302
home.”
”I think,” I replied, ”that I have heard
some such term as ’hypocrite’ applied to
men of that class.”
”And yet,” continued Thorwald, ”they
would think it perfectly proper for a man to
keep razors away from his children, but at
the same time have one or more concealed
about the house somewhere for his own use.
1303
It might very easily be argued that razors
were dangerous things under any conditions;
the children might ﬁnd them by accident
and do great harm to themselves or oth-
ers; the man himself, though accustomed
to their moderate use, might, in a moment
of overconﬁdence, go too far and inﬂict a se-
rious injury on himself or even a fatal one;
and, further, it might be said that razors
1304
are of no real use to men, for nature knows
best what is needed for protection, and if
hair on the face was not necessary for the
well-being of man it would not grow there.
This argument could be pushed until, under
an awakened public sentiment, the manu-
facture and sale of razors might be prohib-
ited.
”I have said this to introduce a plea for
1305
tolerance of opinion. You were created, I
have no doubt, as we were, with diﬀerent
temperaments and inclinations, which, with
various kinds of education, produce diﬀer-
ent opinions. You cannot all have the same
mind on any given subject, nor all approve
of the same methods of reform, but you will
make but little progress in true temperance
until you can bury minor diﬀerences and
1306
all work together. You must learn that ev-
erything that has been made, whether pro-
duced by the direct hand of God or through
the agency of man, has its proper use. Do
you say that some people would express the
wish that everything intoxicating could be
destroyed from the earth, as having no proper
use? All the evil in it will surely be re-
moved, but the good will remain. At present
1307
it is one of the stubborn obstructions in
your thorny path. If your way were to be
suddenly made smooth and easy your race
would never learn self-denial, the only road
that leads to a higher state. Your present
imperfect life is a daily conﬂict, and it is
only by battles won and temptations over-
come that you will ever be built up into
virtuous and God-like characters.
1308
”I said you must be tolerant. I can con-
ceive that a man might feel perfectly safe in
the use of wine and have no scruples of any
kind against it, and yet be sincere in urg-
ing people in general to totally abstain from
it on account of the harm some might re-
ceive. This man must not be denied a place
in the temperance ranks. Another might
think it a sin to touch a drop. One might
1309
believe the only right way to deal with the
subject would be to prohibit the sale en-
tirely, another would think more might be
done by some other method of restriction.
All that I have read of our experiences goes
to prove that the people of the earth will
never drive out this evil till all shades of
temperance people get Christianity enough
into their hearts to unite on a broad plat-
1310
form and work as one army with a single
purpose.”
”Will you not tell us,” I asked, ”how the
reform was ﬁnally eﬀected on Mars?”
”Like all other true reforms,” replied Thor-
wald, ”it came about through the sancti-
ﬁed commonsense of the church of God, not
suddenly by any means, but gradually and
only after many years of severe struggle. A
1311
combined eﬀort of all good people, espe-
cially women, working with spiritual as well
as moral weapons, produced an impression
which was lasting. When men were taught
from their childhood the dangers which ac-
company the drinking habit; when one class
of people denied themselves all indulgence
for the sake of the class who were weak;
when drinking became a disgrace, and those
1312
who could not keep sober were taken in
charge by the state and permanently sepa-
rated from the rest of the community; when
the church awoke to its full duty and the
rich poured out their money; when men and
women forgot fashion and pride and caste
in their love for the practical work of Chris-
tianity; when the power of the gospel had
strengthened men’s will and had begun to
1313
plant in every heart a love for something
purer than ﬂeshly appetite; when the spiri-
tual part of our nature began to gain the as-
cendency and to occupy the place for which
it was made; then intemperance loosed its
hold and soon disappeared, never to trouble
us again.
”You see it was a long road with us and I
have no doubt it will prove so on the earth,
1314
but do not on that account lose courage.
And let me counsel both of you to join the
ranks of the reformers when you get home.
”Although intemperate drinking has long
been unknown among us, as well as all other
gross imperfections of character, we still make
good wine, and no more danger is felt in
drinking it than in using milk. Everybody
can have all he wants of it. Our tables may
1315
be supplied with the luxuries of every clime,
but we have learned that it is best for us to
be temperate in both eating and drinking.
I am sorry your temperance friends, as you
say, would not approve of us, but when you
see them I trust you will do what you can to
let them understand that such temptations
as this of which we have been speaking be-
long to the childhood of a race, and that
1316
the people of Mars have long since passed
out of infancy.”
CHAPTER XXXII.
A GENUINE ACCIDENT.
Mona did not feel obliged to be present
at our conversations after she had explained
1317
her position to us, but I saw her many times
every day. I tried to respect her feeling and
avoid the subject which still occupied so
many of my thoughts. I fought against my
passion, which I told myself was unmanly,
since it was not returned in the good, old-
fashioned way. What man of spirit would
submit to the enchantment of one who, while
professing she loved him with her whole heart,
1318
declared in the same breath that she also
loved equally well half a dozen others? I
tried to make up my mind to shake oﬀ the
spell and be free. To this end I endeavored
to examine my heart with the purpose of
discovering if possible the secret of Mona’s
power over me.
I was sure I could not be weak enough
to be held so ﬁrmly by her beauty alone,
1319
lovely as she was. Her mental equipment
did not seem to furnish the ground for such
a deep attachment, and I could not believe
that I was good enough to be so powerfully
drawn to her by the inimitable character of
her spiritual nature. What, then, was the
attraction? It was not far to seek. What
was it that ﬁrst moved me, before I had
ever seen her? What accomplishment was
1320
it that always came to my mind ﬁrst when I
thought of her? In short, what would Mona,
silent, be? I could hardly imagine. But
then, she was not silent, and I knew well
enough that, struggle as I night, I never
could successfully resist the subtle charm
of that voice.
So, as I saw no escape for me, I next be-
gan to study how I could infuse into Mona’s
1321
love for me something more of the personal
element. How could I teach her to love me
just a little for myself alone? Evidently she
had been educated in an atmosphere of the
most uncompromising monotony. Where
everybody loved everybody what chance could
there be for lovers? I wondered what would
move Mona. Some heroic action which should
appeal to her sympathies would probably
1322
do it. She had been pleased with the part I
had taken in discovering her retreat in the
moon, and perhaps something else in that
line would help me. But what was there
one could possibly do in Mars which could
be called heroic? I should have to ask Thor-
wald if he could think of anything I could
do to arouse the imagination of Mona and
bring her a little closer to me.
1323
Not long after I had been indulging in
these conﬂicting thoughts I had a more promis-
ing opportunity than I had hoped for of
showing Mona that I could do something
besides make love to her.
One morning she came to me and said
she would like to go out for a long ride. As
I never lost an opportunity of being alone
with her I eagerly accepted this one and
1324
hurried oﬀ with her, lest any other mem-
ber of the household should appear and pro-
pose to accompany us. Mona was as agree-
able as ever, and chirruped away in her mu-
sical style as we walked down the hill in
search of just the right carriage. We soon
found one which pleased us, and as I was
by this time perfectly at home in the man-
agement of these vehicles, we started oﬀ at
1325
a brisk pace along a road which took us
through a charming section of the coun-
try. It made me happy to reﬂect that this
pleasant ride was at Mona’s suggestion. Al-
though she had peculiar views about my
manner of wooing, she did not shun my
company, and I could not refuse to believe
she really loved me as she said. I turned
on more power, and as our speed became
1326
exhilarating I said to my companion:
”Mona, they will think we have eloped.”
”Excuse me,” came out in sweet notes,
”you will have to explain.”
”Dear me, were your people so very proper
that you don’t even know the meaning of
that word? Didn’t they ever do anything
wrong?”
”Oh, is it wrong to elope?”
1327
”That depends entirely on the point of
view. But I cannot explain further with-
out bringing up the subject which you have
forbidden me to speak about.”
”What subject is that? I have forgot-
ten that I have ever put you under such a
prohibition.”
”Why, the subject that is always nearest
my heart and nearest my lips, the subject of
1328
my great love for you, dear Mona, so diﬀer-
ent from my regard for any other person.”
”Oh, I remember now, but I assure you
I had forgotten all about it.” And here her
voice suddenly lost much of its tenderness
and assumed a character which she rarely
employed, as she continued, ”But let us not
discuss that topic again. I already know all
you have to say on it, and why should we
1329
waste our time with such useless talk when
there are so many more valuable things to
occupy our attention?”
”Forgive me,” I exclaimed. ”If you will
promise me not to sing in that tone again I
will talk about anything you wish.”
”I agree,” she responded, and never did
her accents sound sweeter.
Somehow I was not so much aﬀected by
1330
Mona’s coldness this time as before, and
I was able to recover my cheerfulness at
once. I then determined to give her no oc-
casion for another rebuﬀ if I could help it,
but to do all in my power to entertain her
with what she called sensible conversation.
There were many things connected with so-
ciety on the earth in which she took a lively
interest, and I made a great eﬀort to talk
1331
myself into her favor, so that she would not
say again that she preferred the doctor’s
company to mine.
We had been riding a couple of hours or
more, generally at a swift pace, when, from
a high point in the road, we saw we were
approaching the shore of the sea or a large
lake.
Mona was so delighted with the view
1332
that I said:
”If we can ﬁnd any kind of a boat on the
shore we will have a ride on the water.”
”Can you manage a boat?” she asked.
”Oh, yes, if it is not too large.”
”But it may be some new kind, some-
thing you are not acquainted with.”
”Then I shall have to study it out. But
you are not afraid to go on the water with
1333
me, are you?”
”If there is anything in this pleasant world
to give me fear it is water in such mass as
that,” she replied, stretching out her hand
toward the sea.
”But I thought you were afraid of noth-
ing,” said I.
”You have taught me the word,” she re-
sponded, ”and I hardly know its meaning
1334
yet, but I must acknowledge that I shrink
from the ocean. Its vastness, so much wa-
ter, overwhelms me. You know it is many,
many years since the moon had any large
bodies of water.”
”So it is,” I exclaimed, ”and everything
will be new to you. What sport we shall
have, and I shall make it my business to see
that the water does not harm you.”
1335
We hurried down to the shore and found
the prettiest little boat I had ever seen all
ready for us, as if we had ordered it for
the occasion. It was evidently intended for
children, but was ﬁtted with both sails and
oars, and also, I was glad to ﬁnd, with a lit-
tle screw and an electric apparatus to turn
it. I was overjoyed with our good fortune,
and prepared at once to embark. But Mona
1336
plainly hesitated. She kept up her musical
chatter and tried to be as cheerful as ever,
but I saw she was not as eager for the trip
as I was. I did not let her see that I noticed
her manner, however, and went on with my
preparations. When I had brought the boat
around so that she could step into it conve-
niently, she looked in my face, and asked in
a voice which trembled with excitement:
1337
”Are you sure you understand how to
manage it? It is all so strange to me.”
She wanted to decline to make the ven-
ture, I thought, but her courage was too
great. Now was the time when I proved
myself still a son of the earth, with falli-
ble judgment and a will too much engrossed
with self. I had been wishing for an oppor-
tunity to do some diﬃcult thing for Mona,
1338
something noble which should win her aﬀec-
tion, and here, when the chance oﬀered, I
did not recognize it. The truly heroic action
would have been to respect Mona’s feeling
and give up the idea entirely, for I knew she
had a strong aversion to trusting herself on
the water. But it was really my own plea-
sure and not hers that I was seeking, for in
answer to her question I said hurriedly:
1339
”Why, certainly. It is as easy to control
as the carriage we have just left. We’ll not
put up the sails if you say so, and I promise
to bring you back all safe and sound in a
short time. I am sure you will enjoy the
new experience, and then I want to hear
how your voice sounds on the water.”
”Well, I will go,” she said, ”on your promise
to protect me; but I have the queerest sen-
1340
sation, I don’t know what to call it. Do you
think it is fear?”
”Oh, no, it can’t be that, because there
is nothing to fear. Are you ready now? Let
me take your hand.”
As she stepped in and felt the motion
she realized how unstable the water really
was, and sank down at my feet, emitting
an involuntary note of not very joyful qual-
1341
ity. But she showed great bravery and, as I
helped her to a seat, she said she would no
doubt enjoy it after a while. I now shoved
the boat out and used the oars a few min-
utes, but soon tiring of that exercise, I looked
into the operation of the electric motor and
found it quite simple. Turning on the power,
the screw worked to perfection and sent the
boat through the water in good shape.
1342
Mona was now recovering her spirits,
seeing that no harm came to her, and at my
request she sang some of her native songs.
This was delightful, and I resigned myself
to the full enjoyment of the occasion. It
seemed to me that the excitement she had
just passed through added a new and pleas-
ing quality to her voice, if that were possi-
ble. As I sat listening and musing, my mem-
1343
ory carried me back to the ﬁrst time I had
heard this marvelous singer, and I could not
help contrasting the two situations. I fe-
licitated myself on my present happiness,
for when Mona was singing I wanted noth-
ing more. I seemed to forget then that she
would not listen to my tale of love, or if I
thought of it I attached no consequence to
it. The voice seemed to be a thing by itself,
1344
and a thing which in some way appeared
to belong wholly to me, whether Mona was
mine or not.
She stopped singing after a while and
asked if we had better not start for home.
To which I replied:
”I turned the boat around some time
ago, and we are now headed directly for the
place where we found it.”
1345
When she expressed surprise at this I
steered about in various directions to show
her how easily it was done, and then some
mischievous spirit, which. I myself must
have imported into Mars, put it into my
head to try and see how fast our little ves-
sel could go. My idea was partly to satisfy
my own curiosity and partly to treat Mona
to as great a variety of sensations as possi-
1346
ble. The electric apparatus was extremely
sensitive, and a slight movement of the lever
made an instant increase in our speed. A
little more, and we began to go through the
water at quite a handsome rate. I enjoyed it
immensely, and if Mona did not like it she
had pluck enough not to make it known.
This emboldened me to put on still more
power, which sent the boat ploughing along
1347
at such a velocity that the spray ﬂew all
about us and the boat shook so that we
kept our seats with diﬃculty. Not knowing
what I might be led to do next, and be-
ing in reality terribly frightened, if she had
only known what the feeling was, Mona now
mildly expostulated with:
”Isn’t this a little too fast? Something
might happen.”
1348
”Don’t be afraid,” I replied. ”I’ll take
care of you. The doctor must have taught
you that last word, as it is not used here.
You know nothing ever happens in Mars.
Everything goes along in the even tenor of
its way, moved by laws which are ﬁxed and
certain. This boat, you see, is strong and
well able to bear the strain. The water
is smooth and contains no hidden rocks,
1349
and it is perfectly easy to steer clear of the
shore, which you see is some distance oﬀ
yet. But now that I have given you this
little excitement, which you will not regret
after it is all over, I will stop the current
which produces this great force and bring
in an artiﬁcial law, as it were, to override
the natural law now in operation. Just look
at this lever and see how easily it is done.”
1350
I seized the handle, intending to shut
oﬀ the power suddenly, but by some un-
accountable mistake I turned it the wrong
way. Instantly I saw the bow of the boat
jump out of the water and go over our heads,
and then Mona and I realized that some-
thing had actually happened on Mars, for
we were both buried under the boat.
I was the ﬁrst to extricate myself and
1351
come to the surface, and, not seeing my
companion, I thought she was surely lost.
I might save her yet, though, and was just
about to dive under the boat again, when
her head appeared insight, only a little way
from me, her eyes wide open and, really, a
smile on her face.
”Can you swim, Mona?” I cried, excit-
edly.
1352
She had not the breath to answer or else
thought my question unnecessary. But I
soon found my own answer when I saw her
head sinking again just as I had reached
her. I clutched her, and, as I held her head
above the water, I began to understand that
I had something on my hands to fulﬁll my
promise to take care of her. At this instant
I saw one of the oars from the boat ﬂoating
1353
a little way from us and managed to secure
it, holding Mona with one arm and swim-
ming with the other. I now helped my com-
panion to half support herself by grasping
the oar, while for the rest she was induced
to throw an arm over my shoulder. In this
way I was left free to make what progress I
could through the water, and I lost no time
in swimming toward the shore, since there
1354
was no hope of our being able to make use
of the boat, which now lay, bottom up, on
the surface.
All this was done without a word from
Mona, although I had been talking to her
freely, giving her directions and assuring her
of my ability to save her. As this was her
ﬁrst experience in drowning, she had evi-
dently been trying to sing under the water
1355
and had found it so diﬃcult that she had
determined to keep her lips closed till she
was well out of it. With this thought in my
mind I said to her as soon as we were under
way:
”Your head is so far above water now
that you can open your mouth with perfect
safety. You see I can talk, and my head is
much lower than yours.”
1356
She was so situated that I could not see
her face easily, and therefore I do not know
whether she ventured to unstop her lips or
not, but no sound came from them if she
did. Perhaps the water still ﬁlled her ears
and made her deaf. So I called aloud:
”Can you hear me, Mona?”
No answer in words, but I imagined I felt
a slight pressure of her hand on my shoul-
1357
der. I toiled on, musing over her strange be-
havior, till it occurred to me to try a subject
which had never failed to bring a response
from her.
”I hope this will make you more aﬀec-
tionate to me, dear Mona,” I said; and then,
as she made no answer, I continued:
”If we reach the shore alive and get home
safe you will love me more than you do
1358
Foedric, will you not?”
I thought this would bring an answer,
and I was not disappointed, except in the
manner in which it came. Not the faintest
note escaped from her lips, but a throb of
feeling came along her arm, and her hand
grasped my shoulder with unmistakable vigor.
I suppose she thought I would understand
what this answer meant, but I was puz-
1359
zled. It might mean so many things. Per-
haps her heart was softening toward me and
she was so much aﬀected by her love for
me, stronger and deeper than she had ever
thought it could be, that she dared not speak.
With this possibility in view I began to feel
very tender toward her and to experience
the pleasure of one whose love is returned
in full measure.
1360
But then her answer might have quite a
diﬀerent meaning. What if she were telling
me that she had determined never to speak
another word on that subject, and that my
question was an oﬀense to her? Surely she
had told me often enough to talk about
more sensible things, and perhaps this was
only a new and forcible way of repeating
the same injunction. I reﬂected, too, that
1361
it was hardly fair to take advantage of the
present situation to force upon her a pro-
hibited topic of conversation.
There was another possible meaning to
her manner of answering me. Perhaps she
was indignant because I had insisted on her
getting into the boat with me against her
wish, and held me strictly responsible for
all that followed. With this view in mind I
1362
imagined she was saying to herself:
”I want nothing to say to you. I ac-
cept your assistance because I cannot get
to shore without you, but when once out
of this dreadful water I shall have nothing
more to do with you.”
To place against the latter theory I had
the fact that Mona’s face had beamed with
pleasure all the time I was getting her ﬁxed
1363
so I could swim freely. Dwelling upon this
memory my mind returned to thoughts of
love, and I felt that I must try once more
to start that familiar song. So I said:
”Forgive me, Mona, if I have oﬀended
you, and let me hear your voice again. You
are too good to punish me so severely for my
fault in getting you into this trouble. Will
you not cheer me with a few notes while I
1364
bear you safely to the shore?”
Again a pressure of the hand but no ex-
pression from the lips, and I was left to
further conjecture over the strange mood
my companion was in. I swam leisurely,
so as not to exhaust my strength, and as
there was a considerable distance to go I
had plenty of time to think after I had found
it impossible to induce Mona to enter into
1365
conversation. Although so near, my com-
panion seemed far away, and I became ex-
tremely lonesome. In trying to determine
what had occasioned such a mishap in a
world where I had been taught to believe
such things entirely out of date, I came to
the conclusion that the Martians owe their
freedom from many misfortunes to their ripened
characters, rather than to anything pecu-
1366
liar in their physical laws. With my im-
perfect development I had made an error
in judgment in taking Mona upon the wa-
ter, and with my untrained mind I had sim-
ply made a mistake when I turned the lever
of the electric apparatus the wrong way.
The Martians had reached such high attain-
ments in every direction that it was practi-
cally impossible for them to make mistakes.
1367
Thus had they freed themselves from many
of the vexations which harass the people of
a younger world.
I was fortunately able to endure the strain
of the great task which I had undertaken,
and ﬁnally succeeded in bringing my pre-
cious burden to land and helping her to a
place of safety. We were both pretty well
fatigued with our exertions, but felt no dan-
1368
ger from our wet clothes, because of the
mild and balmy air.
Mona’s behavior still perplexed me. Her
manner was delightfully pleasant and famil-
iar. Now that we were safe she appeared to
appreciate the humorous part of the situ-
ation, and I was loath to believe that she
could or would aﬀect such good nature if
she were harboring unpleasant feelings to-
1369
ward me. But I could not account for her
continued silence, for as yet no word nor
sound of any kind had come from her lips.
Her face and hands, however, were contin-
ually in motion, and after I had overcome
my usual stupidity I discovered that she was
actually making signs.
”Why, Mona,” I exclaimed, ”can’t you
speak?”
1370
She shook her head.
”Nor sing, I mean?”
Another shake.
”Do you mean to say you have lost your
voice?”
A nod.
For a moment a shadow settled upon her
face, occasioned, no doubt, by my falling
countenance, for I must have shown some-
1371
thing of the great shock to my feelings. Mona
without the voice of Mona! I could not at
once realize the depth of my loss. And now
it was her turn to attempt to restore my
spirits, as we fell back to our original mode
of conversing. I urged her to make an eﬀort
to sing, and she told me she had tried many
times, and that it had grieved her to be so
unsocial while I was toiling so hard to save
1372
her life.
”Why, my dear,” I answered, ”I thought
you were angry with me for speaking to you
again about my love.”
Her reply was a look so full of tender-
ness that I was almost sure that, if she had
had her voice, she would have used it more
kindly than before. Still it may have been
only compassion.
1373
By this time we had found our carriage
and were on our way home, and I am sure
that if, on our arrival, our friends had judged
from our looks, they would have supposed
I, and not Mona, had experienced a great
misfortune.
Avis had returned to her distant home
several days before this, but Antonia and
Foedric were at Thorwald’s when we ar-
1374
rived, and I had the unpleasant task of re-
lating to the whole household our sad ex-
perience. I did not spare myself, although
they were all kind enough to oﬀer every
manner of excuse for me. Everybody showed
sympathy with Mona in all possible ways,
but she herself still exhibited the same sunny
disposition as ever, although the house seemed
quiet without her bright and happy song.
1375
CHAPTER XXXIII.
THE EMANCIPATION OF WOMAN.
Family life in this model home went for-
ward without a jar. Thorwald and Zenith
exhibited not the least sign of restraint be-
fore us, so that what we saw from day to day
we were sure was their natural and usual
behavior. They never worked at cross pur-
1376
poses, were never impatient nor forgetful of
each other, but without eﬀort, apparently,
to avoid friction, they always did what was
best pleasing to themselves, and at the same
time what was just suited to each other.
This happy state of aﬀairs did not come
from a division of labor, by which Zenith
should have nothing to do with outside mat-
ters and Thorwald nothing to say about
1377
how things should go in the house, but it
seemed to proceed from their innate love
of harmony, their perfect compatibility, and
their practical equality. The doctor and I
saw there was something here far diﬀerent
from anything existing in the conjugal rela-
tion on the earth, but we could not decide
just what it was. The doctor was strongly of
the opinion, however, that it arose in some
1378
way from the higher condition of woman.
”You know,” he said, when we were alone,
”the civilization of a people on our planet
is pretty correctly measured by the position
occupied by the women, so that here, in this
exalted society, they must be held in high
esteem, if there is the same analogy between
the two worlds in this as in so many other
things.”
1379
I quite agreed with him, and took the
ﬁrst opportunity when we were all together
to introduce the subject.
”I should like to direct the conversa-
tion,” I said, addressing our host and host-
ess, ”to a topic of considerable interest, just
now, to the people of the earth. I am sure
we can learn something of value in regard to
it from you, and I will introduce it, if you
1380
will pardon my impertinence, with a per-
sonal question. Will you please tell me who
is the head of this household?”
”Zenith.”
”Thorwald.”
Two answers in one breath.
”It is very polite of you,” I said, ”to dis-
claim the honor and each one give it to the
other, but, seriously, is there no head?”
1381
”Why, no,” answered Thorwald; ”we never
think of such a thing, and yet you must ad-
mit that things run smoothly without it.”
”I will then try again, if you please,” I
said. ”Which of you is the bread-winner?”
To which Zenith replied:
”That question is hardly appropriate,
for you know we do not work for our daily
bread. The bread would come anyway, whether
1382
we worked or not; but then, as a matter
of fact, every one does work at some use-
ful occupation, because we have found out
by long experience that it is much better
for us than idleness. If you reply that you
have not seen us work while you have been
here, I will say that our time is considered
to be well employed if we can be learning
anything or imparting knowledge to oth-
1383
ers, as this is supposed to add indirectly to
the general well-being of society. But per-
haps what you want to know is which of
us does the more to beneﬁt the world, and
even this would be a diﬃcult question to
answer. Thorwald creates, we will say, an
elaborate design for a noble cathedral, and
as he watches its fair proportions rise un-
der the hands of skilled men, who take an
1384
equal pride and satisfaction in their work,
his heart is made glad by the thought that
for many years after he has left the body the
structure will be used as a place for teach-
ing the way of life, with its graceful spires
pointing men to heaven. While I, perhaps–
”
”Let me tell that part,” interrupted Thor-
wald. ”While Zenith, with just as strong
1385
a feeling of responsibility for a share of the
world’s work, composes a beautiful song and
writes the music for it, and then sings it be-
fore a vast audience, while the phonograph
catches it and holds it for future genera-
tions. Is she not doing as much as I am
toward earning the bread for the family?”
”It certainly cannot be denied,” I an-
swered. ”But what I want to ﬁnd out is,
1386
to use a homely expression common with
us, which of you two holds the reins in this
home?”
”Well,” replied Thorwald, laughing, ”that
is a ﬁgure of speech which is not employed
here, for we use no reins of any kind; but
I know what you mean, and I will answer
you by saying that we each hold one rein,
and in that way drive as steadily as if we
1387
were one person.”
”But when disputes arise, which one gives
in?”
”Disputes never arise, and if they did we
would both ’give in,’ whatever that expres-
sion means.”
”If not your wills, do not your wishes or
inclinations sometimes oppose each other?”
”Why, no,” Thorwald answered quickly.
1388
”It is impossible, and for this reason: each
one of us is so intent on trying to please the
other that we are saved from all temptation
to selﬁshness, which is the root and source
of all diﬀerences.”
While I was considering what next to
ask, the doctor broke in with:
”I think my companion will be obliged
to discontinue his questions and accept the
1389
truth that here we have found an ideal house-
hold, where husband and wife are in reality
equal. Let me ask if the women, all over
this happy world, are treated with as much
consideration as in the case before us.”
”Why, what a funny question,” exclaimed
Zenith, before Thorwald could speak. ”Why
don’t you ask if, all over this happy world,
we treat our men with consideration and
1390
respect? But, to save you the trouble of
asking, I will say that, all over this happy
world, a man is held in as high esteem and
is as tenderly cared for as a woman, ev-
ery bit. Your words, Doctor, remind me
that I have several times wanted to speak to
you about a certain manner which you and
your friend have exhibited toward me. No
one could accuse you of disrespect to Thor-
1391
wald; indeed, I think your carriage toward
him is excellent, but with me you seem to
be a little strained, and your manner is a
triﬂe eﬀusive. Pardon me for the criticism.
I know your action is well meant, although
it is something I am not accustomed to.”
”I suppose,” said the doctor, ”you refer
to our feeble and, it appears, stupid eﬀorts
to be polite.”
1392
”Oh, then I ought to feel complimented
instead of ﬁnding fault with you. But why
should you wish to be more respectful to me
than to Thorwald? He is more worthy your
regard than I am, and has as many rights
in this house as I have, exactly.”
”We have been taught to pay an extra
deference to women,” answered the doctor.
”Why?” asked Zenith. ”Because they
1393
are superior beings?”
”Hardly that, I think.”
”Then it must be because they are con-
sidered inferior, and you seek to hide your
real feeling, which is one of commiseration,
by a false show of politeness.”
”That sounds harsh,” said the doctor,
”and I believe you are not correct.”
”Oh, I do not mean to criticise you per-
1394
sonally,” Zenith made haste to say, ”but the
system. It seems to me that you, Doctor,
try to be sincere; and assuming that to be
so, let me ask you why you are more cere-
monious in your manner to your neighbor’s
wife than to your neighbor’s husband.”
”Well, let me see. Why do I instinctively
make a special show of respect in meeting
a woman? I never analyzed my feeling, but
1395
I will try to do so for you. I think one prin-
cipal reason is because it is so very conven-
tional that she would expect it, and think
me either piqued or ill-bred if I omitted it.
Then, deeper than that is a desire to tell
her that I recognize in her and admire those
graces and amenities which are supposed to
be peculiar to her sex. And I suppose there
is, also, a little selﬁshness in it, as if I were
1396
asking her to take note that I knew what
were the usages of good society.”
”But would you not also tell her in eﬀect
by your ﬂattery, if you will excuse the word,
that she and the rest of her sex are by birth
not quite equal to men, and you are trying
to make up the diﬀerence all you can by
politeness?”
”I am not conscious of such a feeling, I
1397
am sure,” answered the doctor. ”It seems
to me that woman is entitled to some extra
attention because she is physically weaker
than man.”
”True,” said Zenith; ”that is a good rea-
son why she should be protected.”
”And should we not maintain and prac-
tice toward her the spirit of true courtesy?”
”Most certainly. But women should also
1398
exercise the same spirit toward men. The
duty is reciprocal. The days of knight-errantry,
when men were chivalrous and women were
merely beautiful, should not last forever;
women, too, should learn to be chivalrous.
Do not imagine I would have you less con-
siderate or thoughtful of anyone, or less demon-
strative in your feelings, if you will only
remember that men and women are equal,
1399
have equal duties and privileges, and should
have similar treatment. Great respect should
go where it is deserved, whether to man or
woman. If I were an inhabitant of the earth
and a woman, I should try to have some
such thought as this: one man of character
knows another good man is his equal; there-
fore as they treat each other so I would have
them treat me, for then I would know that
1400
they held me, also, as an equal, and not as
a doll, pretty and well dressed perhaps, but
brainless, nor as a child who must not be
told things too deep for its mind.”
”I begin to understand you,” said the
doctor. ”You ﬁrst get me to admit that
women are not a superior order of beings,
and then you argue that, as we do not treat
them exactly as we do each other, we can-
1401
not consider them our equals, and there-
fore nothing remains but that we must look
upon them as inferior to us.”
Zenith gave a pleasant little pink laugh
and answered:
”I see you have found me out. But you
do not deny that my logic is correct.”
”I have tried to tell you several times,”
returned the doctor, with a smile, ”that, as
1402
for me, I do not feel guilty of harboring the
least degrading sentiment toward women.
But I cannot answer for the opinions of the
world at large. This subject promises to
be more interesting than we anticipated. I
see you know a great deal about it. Have
women always been accorded an equality
with men, or is it a part of your mature
development?”
1403
”Now, Doctor, just see how prejudiced
you are. You would never think of asking if
the men of Mars had always been the equal
of women. It would be quite as natural with
us to ask it in one way as the other.”
”I will try again, then, by asking if the
two sexes have always been so happily equal
as at this time.”
”I will give you a direct answer to that
1404
question. They have not. But I think I have
talked enough for once. Thorwald will tell
you all about our tortuous course in reach-
ing our present condition, if you wish.”
”Not at all,” said Thorwald. ”I would
like to tell it, but this is a topic that Zenith
has taken a special interest in, and she shall
have the pleasure of talking to you about
it.”
1405
”Now then!” I said to myself, ”here is a
diﬀerence right away. Zenith says Thorwald
must tell it; Thorwald would like to do so,
but insists on sacriﬁcing himself for Zenith’s
sake. Now, what if Zenith should prefer
the pleasure of self-denial, and refuse to let
Thorwald immolate his desire so readily?
What could prevent war in this happy fam-
ily? Would a quarrel be any less a quarrel
1406
because its cause was unselﬁshness rather
than selﬁshness?”
But if I, with a worldly heart, was ex-
pecting a lapse from these excellent people,
I was disappointed, for Zenith, with a look
of wifely aﬀection toward Thorwald, said
pleasantly:
”Very well, since Thorwald is so kind, I
will do my best, if you are sure you will not
1407
tire of hearing me talk.”
The doctor and I expressed our pleasure
with the arrangement, and Zenith began:
”I wish to say at the start that, what-
ever may have been your experience on this
question, it is hardly possible that your mis-
takes have equaled ours, for the folly and
wickedness of our race have been stupen-
dous and of long continuance.”
1408
”If you will excuse the interruption,” I
said, ”I will suggest that we can sympathize
with you, as our history shows the greatest
injustice to women.”
”Your remark proves to me that you
cannot fully sympathize with us. I did not
infer, as you seem to do, that the women of
Mars had been the only victims of injustice.
”But without further delay let me begin,
1409
only do not hesitate to break in upon my
story with any inquiries that suggest them-
selves to you.
”We read that God created man, male
and female; that is, there came forth from
the hand of the Maker a male man and a
female man, and all through that early age
of gold they loved each other, and served
their God with purity of heart and with-
1410
out a selﬁsh thought. God was their father,
they were his children, with equal privi-
leges, equal aﬀection, and equal ability to
do faithful service. No evil spirit was near
to whisper in the ear of either a suggestion
of personal leadership. Ambition, that am-
bition which would exalt self at the expense
of another, was not yet born, and neither of
these happy beings could conceive it possi-
1411
ble to achieve a higher happiness by lording
it over the other.
”So they lived till sin came; and among
the woes which sin brought in its train there
were few more dreadful than the decree that
the man should rule over the woman and
that her desire should be unto her husband.
For thousands of years our race struggled
against that giant evil. During a long pe-
1412
riod the condition of woman was so low that
we know nothing of her, and when she reap-
pears it is only as the servant of man. Made
in the image of God as the companion of
man and an equal sharer in all his rights
and duties, she is now his chattel, a piece
of property, held for his selﬁsh use or dis-
posed of for his advantage.
”Even in these dark days individuals of
1413
our sex rose out of the general degradation
and showed that they were ﬁtted by nature
for a higher position. But sin and igno-
rance kept the mass of them under the heel
of their masters. As civilization advanced
there came some mitigation of their lot, and
where pure religion gained a foothold women
began to receive recognition; but their state
was deplorable indeed among all those peo-
1414
ples whose religion was only gross supersti-
tion and idolatry.
”In the process of time Christ came and
brought the light of heaven to this dark
world, and from that hour woman can well
say that her day began to dawn. One of
the sweetest strains in her song of salva-
tion is that evoked by the memory of her
resurrection from misery and abasement to
1415
a position of honor among the children of
men. The change, however, was very grad-
ual, for Christianity itself was slow in gain-
ing ground; but the gospel was ever the
friend of woman, as of all the oppressed,
lifting her up where she could inﬂuence the
world and begin to fulﬁll her destiny. As
fast as the nations shook oﬀ barbarism and
became in any degree enlightened, the un-
1416
natural burdens were lifted from the shoul-
ders of woman, although for a long time
she was compelled to perform more than
her share of severe toil even among people
who thought themselves civilized.
”Then came a time when, in nations
of some reﬁnement, there was such a reac-
tion against the injustice and degradation
to which woman had so long been subjected
1417
that she suddenly became an object of sen-
timental regard among courtly men. Her
noble qualities were exaggerated far beyond
their merit, and she was set on a pedestal,
to receive homage and all the outward forms
of respect from those whom she so recently
served as a menial. Being so poorly ﬁtted
by her long training in serfdom for such ex-
altation, what wonder is it that her head
1418
was turned by the ﬂattery, and that her re-
covery was slow and diﬃcult? The insin-
cere and superﬂuous manners of that period
remained for ages a vexation to our grow-
ing intelligence and a hindrance to our true
progress; and, from what you have said, I
am inclined to think you of the earth are
now going through some such experience as
ours.
1419
”After that epoch had been passed, woman
never fell back to her former condition, al-
though she did not yet for a long time reach
a position that was at all enviable, except as
compared with the dark days of her bondage.
But she was now where she could take ad-
vantage of the general uplifting of the race,
and though kept in the background by man
as much as was possible, she was constantly
1420
growing and learning, preparing herself for
a future of which she would then dare not
even to dream.
”And now I am coming, in this rapid
sketch, to that period of activity and change
which Thorwald has described to you in its
industrial features. In portraying some of
the evils of those days, arising from our al-
most ineradicable selﬁshness, he was obliged
1421
to make his picture a somber one, a neces-
sity under which, happily, I am not placed.
Looking at the times, not as compared with
the present era but with what had gone be-
fore, which was the only comparison the
people of that day could make, there was
much room for encouragement. It was, in
truth, a bright day, whose beauty, however,
consisted not so much in the realization of
1422
happiness as in the promise of still brighter
days to come. Material prosperity abounded,
education ﬂourished, and religion was be-
ginning to creep down from men’s heads
into their hearts. Wrongs were righted, jus-
tice enthroned, and philanthropy sprang into
being. Even while there was so much evil,
and while some men seemed to be trying all
they could to keep back the breaking dawn,
1423
the day was surely coming. The brother-
hood of man, long preached as a settled
principle, now became a living force, show-
ing itself in a multitude of devices for re-
lieving distress, lessening pain, alleviating
poverty, and for the general betterment of
society.
”Surrounded by such a universal spirit
of improvement, woman felt the impulse of
1424
new life, and heard the call to a higher ser-
vice to humanity than she had ever yet ren-
dered. As men’s minds broadened and their
hearts grew more tender, and as their sym-
pathies reached out to the weak and down-
trodden of every class, it was not possible
that their ancient prejudice against woman
could much longer survive. Her rise from
this time forward was rapid. Let us ex-
1425
amine the position which, under the inﬂu-
ence of this kindly feeling, she soon came
to occupy. Protected by many special laws,
guarded by all the legitimate forces of so-
ciety, but exempt from military and po-
lice service, honored for her high and no-
ble qualities, respected by all whose regard
was of value, and loved with a true aﬀec-
tion which scorned the question of individ-
1426
ual rights, her lot seemed indeed a happy
one. Shielded from the severe struggles of
life, freed from the cares of business, re-
leased in a great measure from uncongenial
work and from the dangers attending exact-
ing labor, with the disagreeable things in
life kept from her as much as possible, al-
ways seeing the best of every man’s charac-
ter and manners, and, more than all, being
1427
supreme in her natural domain, the home,
with none to dispute her right, what more
could she ask?”
”What, indeed?” I remarked, as Zenith
paused a moment after her question. ”The
picture you have drawn looks so bright, be-
side your description of her former lot, that
I have no doubt she was now contented and
happy.”
1428
”So you think that shelter and protec-
tion and the love of husband and children
and the serenity of home ought to be enough
to satisfy one who was created with a spirit
as restless, a brain as active, an individual-
ity as marked, and hands as clever as those
of man?”
As Zenith threw this question at me and
waited for me to answer, I realized that I
1429
had been caught by her former inquiry, and
found not that Zenith was about to take
advanced ground on the subject before us.
Wishing I had not drawn her attention so
squarely to my personal opinions, and yet
feeling obliged to stand up for my position,
I said:
”It seems to me that woman’s surest
path to honor and happiness is that marked
1430
out for her by nature, a path which she
adorns because so well ﬁtted for it, and
that to forsake the home and compete with
man for the thousand places in the work of
the world would be to cast aside the charm
of her womanliness and all that makes her
what she is, a solace and comfort to all the
world. If she seeks for a pleasurable life,
where can she ﬁnd such keen and lasting
1431
pleasure as among the duties of home, and if
she is ambitious to lift the world to a higher
plane, where is it possible for her to have
so much inﬂuence as in the nurture of the
young?”
”So spoke the men of our race in the
era I am describing to you,” replied Zenith.
”It seems as if you must have been reading
some of our old writers, so closely do you
1432
follow the ideas then prevalent. I have read
and reread those histories until I am quite
familiar with them, and you shall hear how
such views as you have expressed soon be-
came very old-fashioned.”
”I am sure your account will closely con-
cern us,” I said, ”for the age of which you
are now speaking must be that correspond-
ing to our own times on the earth. The
1433
woman question is attracting special atten-
tion, and seems bound to remain with us
indeﬁnitely; but I am frank to say I think
our women are making a mistake in try-
ing to elbow their way into man’s domain,
whatever may have been the result of the
movement in this favored world.”
”I suppose you would have them stay at
home where they belong,” said Zenith, with
1434
a good-natured laugh, which sounded as if
she were conﬁdent enough of her ability to
meet any possible argument.”
”Yes,” I replied, ”out of pure kindness to
them. It is an astonishing thing to me that
they can think of gaining anything by giving
up all that is distinctive in their nature and
becoming more like us. I am not so much in
love with my own sex as to enjoy seeing our
1435
sisters and our wives and daughters trying
to make themselves over into men.”
I now felt that I had said enough, and so
expressed myself to Zenith, but she replied
pleasantly that she was glad I had told my
thoughts, as it gave her an opportunity to
say some things that might not otherwise
have been called for.
”You seem to think,” she continued, ”that
1436
woman’s supreme happiness is to be gained
by self-eﬀacement. I suppose her custom
is with you, as it formerly was here, to re-
nounce her own name at the marriage al-
tar.”
”It is,” I replied.
”And from that hour,” resumed Zenith,
”she makes every eﬀort to bury herself, to
deny her personality, and to lay aside what-
1437
ever individual desires and aspirations she
may have had; that is, if she is what you
would call a true woman. If she objects
to this renunciation and attempts to make
an independent career suited to her talents,
then she is strong- minded and is trying to
unsex herself. With the world full of work
waiting for her nimble ﬁngers and loving
heart, she is compelled to suppress all secret
1438
hope of doing something to impress her own
character on that world, because her only
duty is in the home. A man is also called
upon to be a good husband and father, but
that by no means comprises all he is ex-
pected to be and do. To him it is given to
strike out into untrodden ﬁelds, and, with-
out reproach, to make a name for himself if
possible.
1439
”You say work is hard and disagreeable,
but is it all dull and uninteresting? Are
there not sweet moments of hope in every
work, and then the joy of achievement when
it is over? Do not men ﬁnd this joy and
the rewards of labor amply suﬃcient? The
more diﬃcult the task, the greater the sat-
isfaction when it is accomplished. Business
is perplexing and uncertain, you say, but
1440
what of the triumphs of success? Would
any man refuse to undertake an enterprise
because success was not certain? The very
uncertainty adds zest to the business, and
makes hope possible. From all this striving
and achieving, and from all the satisfying
rewards which come with success, woman
is debarred. Then there are the professions
and the wide range of occupations which re-
1441
quire education and special training. What
a variety for man to choose from, while you
would conﬁne woman to one; and a great
many women, not being born good cooks or
good housekeepers, cannot ﬁll that one with
any credit to themselves. So what can life
be to them compared with what it ought to
be? Think of the opportunities they might
have in these higher occupations of compet-
1442
ing for the prizes of life–honor, fame, posi-
tion, riches, and, above all, the conscious-
ness of doing some good in the world. Oh,
it is impossible for you to realize anything
of the longing in woman’s heart to be some-
one, to do something, and so to be relieved
from the everlasting monotony of the tread-
mill, which, if men were obliged to submit
to it, would make the majority of them in-
1443
sane.
”You see I have put myself in the place
of one of my sex in that olden time, and
have spoken as she felt when to express her
feelings would have been almost a shame to
her.
”What I desire to show you is that woman
had not then received all that was due her,
although men seemed to think she was fully
1444
emancipated. But events moved rapidly in
that stirring age, and this great question
could not be kept in the background in a
day when every abuse and injustice was al-
lowed a hearing and reform was in the very
air. Even the dumb beasts had such power-
ful advocates that cruelty and unkindness
were greatly checked. What wonder then,
as men’s sensibilities and consciences be-
1445
came quickened, that they should begin to
see, what they could not see before, that a
fuller liberty ought to be accorded to woman?
But this vision came not without help. Some-
times in our history we have known of a
race being deprived of their freedom, and so
benumbed by their condition that they de-
sired nothing better, and so perforce waited
for a movement for their enfranchisement
1446
to come from without. It was not so in this
case. Women themselves cried out against
their lot. They were not so enraptured with
the calm and quiet of their conventional life
but that they felt the stirrings of ambition
for something diﬀerent, and they did not
fear to raise their voice for more liberty.”
”Liberty!” I echoed. ”Were they really
deprived of liberty?”
1447
”Yes, liberty to choose a calling that
would suit their individual tastes and sat-
isfy their growing ambition.”
”Excuse me,” I again interrupted, ”but
were not these women who exhibited so much
restlessness unattached–that is, without many
family ties? And were not the great major-
ity so contented in the shelter of home and
so engrossed in the care of husband and chil-
1448
dren that they were entire strangers to any
such disturbing fancies, or ambitions as you
call them? And, again, did not this large
class of happy and busy wives and moth-
ers resent the action of those self-appointed
liberators who were ﬁghting for an image
of straw and crying themselves hoarse over
imaginary wrongs?”
Zenith smiled again in that peculiar man-
1449
ner which told me, in the pleasantest pos-
sible way, that she was perfectly sure I was
on the losing side, and with the smile she
resumed:
”Your questions are so familiar to one
who has studied this subject that they seem
like another plagiarism, as it were, from our
histories, but I will give you fair answers.
”It is true that the early protests came
1450
from the solitary women, unfortunately not
a small class at that day, who, being with-
out legal protectors, felt the inequalities of
the law and the unjust restraints put upon
their sex by society, but the truths they
spoke came with added force because of their
intimate acquaintance with their needs.
”You are wrong in your supposition that
the mass of women were so shallow in mind
1451
as to know nothing of those longings for a
fuller, more satisfying life. Deep in their na-
ture, planted by the Creator himself, was
the same lofty spirit with which man was
endowed, and it could not be smothered by
marriage. Taking a husband should not,
and in reality does not now, change one’s
ambition or aim in life any more than tak-
ing a wife does, but in those benighted days
1452
men, after marriage, could go forward with
their plans just as if nothing had happened,
while the women were supposed to forget
their high hopes and aspirations and con-
ﬁne themselves entirely to the trivial round
of domestic duties. The men, however, were
much mistaken if they thought their wives
were forgetting. They but bided their time.
”In your last question you are not alto-
1453
gether wrong, for there were a few unthink-
ing ones who joined with some of the men
in ridiculing the whole movement as unnec-
essary and foolish. But this class had not
much inﬂuence, and, in spite of such op-
position as they oﬀered, the reform made
steady progress.
”As a help to obtain what she was striv-
ing for, woman asked for the right of suf-
1454
frage, and thereupon had to undergo a fusil-
lade of cheap criticism from those who would
not understand her, and who supposed she
wanted this privilege as an end and not as
a means. Men were slow to grant the right
to vote, but after much discussion suﬀrage
began to be allowed in matters where the
women were particularly interested. With
the ﬁrst concession, however, men realized
1455
that the force of all their arguments was
broken, and before many years the full right
was bestowed.
”And now, Thorwald, I am sure our good
friends did not come so far from home to
hear me talk all the time. The rest of the
subject concerns your sex as much as mine,
and you had better take up the story at this
point.”
1456
”Oh, no,” replied Thorwald, ”I shall not
take the narrative away from you now, you
may be sure, for what is left is just the part
you can best relate. I shall enjoy it as much
as our friends from the earth. But I pro-
pose that we hear the rest this afternoon,
and that, in the meantime, we go out for a
drive.”
”A drive,” I asked, ”what do you drive?”
1457
”You shall see,” Thorwald answered, as
he stepped to the telephone. I thought I
should hear his message, but found the in-
strument had been further improved. In
the use of the telephone as I had known
it, everybody in the house was much surer
of hearing what was said than the person
at the other end of the line was, but here
the one addressed was the only one to get
1458
a word of the communication.
Thorwald talked to us a short time about
other matters, and then asked us all to pre-
pare to go out. When we reached the door
the doctor and I were surprised to see a
beautiful and commodious carriage, to which
were attached, with the lightest possible har-
ness, four of the handsomest horses we had
ever seen. There were, besides, two ﬁne
1459
saddle-horses for the children, who were to
accompany us.
Thorwald drove, but without rein or whip,
the horses being guided perfectly and eas-
ily merely by word of mouth. The ani-
mals were also so large and strong that they
seemed to enjoy the sport as much as we
did.
”Do you mean to say,” I inquired, ”that
1460
such a turnout as this can be had for the
asking?”
”Certainly. I just said through the tele-
phone that I would like a carriage for four
persons, and two saddle-horses. The man
who has the care of the horses is a friend of
mine who likes the work better than any-
thing else.”
”The horses appear to be well broken,”
1461
the doctor remarked.
”Broken,” said Zenith, ”what do you mean
by that, Doctor?”
”Why, it is an expression by which we
mean that the high spirit with which they
were born has been subdued, making it easy
to train them to obedience.”
”They must be wild, then,” spoke Zenith
again, ”and you are obliged to tame them.
1462
The diﬀerence here is that the horses are
born tame and do not need breaking, and
though they have plenty of spirit, as you
see, they are so intelligent and have such
solidity of character that there is never any
danger that they will become unmanage-
able.”
”That must be so,” said I, ”or you could
not be sure of being free from accidents.
1463
But tell us, Thorwald, how it happens that
we have not seen others enjoying this de-
lightful mode of traveling.”
”It is not very singular that you have
not seen any horses before,” said Thorwald.
”They have been entirely superseded in all
kinds of business, you remember, by me-
chanical power, and even for pleasure-riding
most people are too tender of heart to en-
1464
joy using them. They fear the horses will be
fatigued, and they do not like to see them
straining themselves in dragging a heavy
load, when there is a force that has no feel-
ing ready to do it a great deal better.
”But you can see these horses are not
working very hard, and it is a good thing for
us sometimes to give up a little sentiment.
There is some danger that our sympathies
1465
may carry us too far. For instance, it is
probably a real kindness to these horses to
give them a little work, if we are only careful
not to render their service galling to them;
and yet there are many people who never
drive, on account of the feeling they have
for the beasts.”
”It would be a good thing if we had more
of that sentiment on the earth,” said the
1466
doctor.
[Illustration: ”THE HORSES ARE BORN
TAME”]
CHAPTER XXXIV.
THE EMANCIPATION OF MAN.
After an exhilarating ride, in which the
1467
doctor and I, certainly, were not troubled
by any over-sensitiveness in regard to such
robust horses, we returned to the house and
soon found ourselves seated in the music
room listening to one of their famous drama-
tists reciting his own words through the phono-
graph. Next we had some music, and then
a poem, from the same proliﬁc instrument.
When this entertainment was over, and
1468
after lunch, Zenith, at our urgent request,
seconded by Thorwald’s solicitation, resumed
her narrative.
”We read,” she began, ”that during the
time when men were grudgingly bestowing
the right of suﬀrage on our sex, woman was
making rapid strides toward a position in
society ﬁtted to her talents and aspirations.
One occupation after another became avail-
1469
able, and it was no longer a disgrace or
hardly a peculiarity for women to be earn-
ing their living instead of depending for sup-
port on their fathers or brothers. This tended
to create in them a feeling of independence,
and in many employments they had every
right to be proud of their attainments, for,
with so little training, they often surpassed
the men at their own trades. Even then,
1470
however, some of the old prejudice against
the sex seemed to remain in force, since
women were discriminated against in the
matter of wages. When they did the same
work and did it better, still their pay was
less than that of men. But this was a tem-
porary injustice, which disappeared, as it
was bound to do, when woman had acquired
her full freedom and had been in the ﬁeld
1471
long enough to prove her right and ability
to stay.
”The work at which women excelled was
that requiring a quick intelligence, nimble
ﬁngers, and the faculty of easy adaptability.
In the realm of physical strength woman
was not a competitor, but there was an-
other ﬁeld in which she more than made
up for that loss, and in which she early be-
1472
gan to show great native ability. That was
in all pursuits demanding the education of
the mind. Here is where she was to look for
the greatest of her victories. Nature had
endowed man with a superior strength of
body and muscle, but woman with a higher
order of mind.”
”I must interrupt you here, Zenith,” said
the doctor. ”This is assuredly an instance
1473
where your race diﬀers materially from that
of the earth, for with us man has by nature
the stronger mind.”
”How do you know?” asked Zenith.
”It has been proved so in all ages.”
”Yes, but does not the expression ’all
ages’ include with you only the ages in which
man has been the ruling spirit, and woman
has been kept down and allowed but lit-
1474
tle opportunity to show the strength of her
mental faculties? You know our history takes
in not only a period similar to that covered
by your whole career, but also other ages
which we believe correspond with the years
yet to come for the inhabitants of the earth.
It has been during the latter era, a time
which you have not yet seen, that woman
has proved the truth of my assertion.”
1475
”I wish to make myself understood,” said
the doctor again. ”I am willing to grant
the equality of the sexes, as far as natural
rights go; that is, that every man and ev-
ery woman ought to have the opportunity
to develop all their talents, untrammeled by
any edict or convention of society. Perhaps
I would agree with you also in believing it
would be better to treat men and women
1476
alike, with open-hearted, sincere courtesy,
and use equal ceremony in showing respect
to individuals of either sex. But it seems to
me that there is a vast diﬀerence between
all that and your latest position. There
are many people of our generation on the
earth, and their number is rapidly increas-
ing, who believe in the essential equality of
the sexes, but I never heard one put forward
1477
anything approaching the claim you make,
that woman was created with a higher or-
der of mind than man–I believe that was
your expression; and this is why I say that
in this particular your race diﬀers greatly
from ours.”
To which Zenith replied:
”I am not so sure of that, my dear doc-
tor. It would seem hardly fair that man
1478
should be given both physical and mental
superiority. But please tell me again why
you think man has the stronger mind.”
”Because he has done the thinking of
the world. The intellectual achievements of
woman, though occasionally brilliant, are
not to be compared with those of man. This
is true in every department throughout our
history–in science and art, in religion, in lit-
1479
erature, in government, and in everything
that I could name. It is hardly to the point
for you to say that woman would have done
more if she had possessed a fuller freedom;
perhaps it is true, but it seems to me a
matter of conjecture. Neither is it a com-
plete answer for you to say that in the years
to come woman, being wholly enfranchised,
will revolutionize the world by her unex-
1480
pected powers. We can judge only by what
she has done. Excuse me, Zenith, for trying
to uphold my point. It is rather discourag-
ing, when I can see by your face that you
can demolish my argument in a moment,
whenever you choose to attempt it.”
We all laughed at the doctor’s want of
courage, and Zenith answered:
”I beg your pardon; I am greatly at fault
1481
if I have any such expression in my face. My
conﬁdence, if I have any, is not in any sup-
posed ability I may have in conversation,
but in our experience here on Mars. Your
history matches ours so well up to your gen-
eration that I cannot but think the likeness
will continue; and if it does, then woman, in
your near future, will prove the truth of my
statement. But before I proceed to tell you
1482
what she has done in this world, let me ask
you if your women have shown any mental
peculiarity which distinguishes them from
men.”
”Yes,” answered the doctor, ”their intu-
itive perceptions appear to be more devel-
oped than those of men, probably because
they use them more. A man may reach a
certain conclusion by a course of reasoning,
1483
while a woman will often arrive at the same
point much quicker by intuition. That is, a
man will tell you why he knows a thing,
when a woman simply knows it because she
knows it.”
”Is that faculty akin to anything else
with which you are acquainted?”
”Yes, we call it instinct in animals.”
”Is not the possession by woman of that
1484
quality a silent but powerful suggestion to
you of the fact that she was treated like
an animal in the dark days of her inthrall-
ment?”
”I had not thought of it,” returned the
doctor, ”but it certainly may be looked upon
as a sad commentary on that rude age.”
”Do you consider this instinct an advan-
tage to woman?” asked Zenith.
1485
”Certainly; it is a great help to her, of-
ten serving with much success in place of
other faculties.”
”Would it be a valuable quality to add
to man’s mental equipment?”
”Yes, indeed, if he could retain all his
other powers of mind.”
”Well, now let me ask you what would
come to pass if the women of the earth, pos-
1486
sessed already of that quickness of thought,
that ability to discern the truth by direct
apprehension, should, by thorough educa-
tion and many years of patient training, ac-
quire the power of reasoning, the judgment,
the strength of mind, and all the intellectual
powers now held by your men?”
”That is a very large ’if,’ and I cannot
tell you what would happen,” answered the
1487
doctor.
”I have only described,” continued Zenith,
”what actually took place on our planet.
When the movement for giving woman a
higher education began, men looked at the
subject just as you do now. Women were
supposed to be of inferior mental capacity,
and it was thought to be a foolish thing
to attempt to educate them. ’Better edu-
1488
cate the boys,’ men said, ’and let the girls
learn to cook and sew and to play the pi-
ano; that is all that will ever be required
of them.’ But, in spite of every discourage-
ment, the girls improved their opportunities
so well that they were soon taking the prizes
away from the boys. Broadminded philan-
thropists of both sexes endowed schools for
them, and the highest institutions of learn-
1489
ing opened their doors to them. When the
young women, almost from the start, be-
gan to be successful in competitive contests
in diﬀerent departments of scholarship, it
was generally thought that such cases were
exceptional and would not be apt to be re-
peated very often. But this was a great
mistake. These instances proved to be no
exception. It was found that woman’s facil-
1490
ity of thought and native acuteness gave her
an immense advantage over the masculine
mind in mastering any ordinary course of
study. But this was surface education. The
reasoning power and the solidity of mind for
which men were distinguished in mature life
came later, but they came.
”At ﬁrst, only here and there a girl was
fortunate enough to be oﬀered a liberal ed-
1491
ucation; but when it was found that in al-
most every instance they brought great credit
on themselves, the number increased with
rapidity, until a college course was the cus-
tomary and expected close of almost every
girl’s school-days. For it was not the rich
only that had this advantage, since by this
time education was free, being provided ei-
ther by the public or by universities richly
1492
endowed.
”All this time the boys seemed to ﬁnd a
great attraction in business and the trades,
and appeared to be willing that the girls
should have a monopoly of the higher edu-
cation. One circumstance that greatly helped
this state of things was the extraordinary
furor that prevailed just then in the mat-
ter of manual training. This system had
1493
received more or less attention from edu-
cators for many years, and it had been in-
troduced into schools as an addition to the
regular course of study. That was a ma-
terial age. Men desired ﬁrst of all to be
practical, and the new method of teaching,
being eminently practical, became exceed-
ingly popular with the boys. The parents,
not dreaming where it would end, and see-
1494
ing the eager interest with which their sons
now crowded into the schools, encouraged
them in it.
”Schools of technique, in which the lit-
erary branches were entirely subordinate,
sprang up on every hand, and two or three
years spent in these institutions took the
place of a college course. The old universi-
ties tried to meet the changing sentiment by
1495
paying more attention to science, by giving
the students a free choice of studies, and by
shortening the course when desired. But
the mechanical idea in the new education
seemed to be the attraction. The boys were
seized with a passion for doing something
with their hands, and their inventive facul-
ties were quickened, increasing in a remark-
able degree their interest in their work and
1496
studies.
”For a long time this movement was thought
to be a great advance in education. It was
such an improvement on the old way, to
ﬁnd the young men learning something use-
ful, rather than wasting their time over the
dead languages and other things they would
never need after ﬁnishing school. And it
must be acknowledged that all this indus-
1497
trial impulse was of advantage to the world
in its way. It multiplied labor-saving ma-
chinery, added to the people’s comforts in
many ways, and increased the general pros-
perity and well-being of society as far as
material improvements could do it.
”But there was another side to the pic-
ture. So much time could not be given to
training the hand and hardening the muscle
1498
without detracting from the attention due
to the cultivation of the brain. To be sure,
the brain was active enough, but it was
receiving a one-sided development, which
boded it no permanent good.
”I have spoken at such length of this al-
most universal rage for technical education,
because it was a chief factor in turning the
world over.”
1499
We all smiled at this expression, and the
doctor asked:
”How did it overturn the world?”
”By aiding in taking the real brain work
away from the men and giving it to the
women.”
”Did this actually happen?”
”Certainly it did. Not in a day, but in
the process of time. How could it be other-
1500
wise, when the women alone had been for
many years going through that long, pa-
tient mind-drilling which is the only prepa-
ration for a thorough education? When the
young men observed that a civil engineer, a
superintendent of a factory, or even a skilled
mechanic could earn a larger salary than
a college graduate, it took away much of
the incentive for the old-fashioned educa-
1501
tion, and they were perfectly willing to see
their sisters take what they had not time
for.
”And so it came about that the women
began to crowd into the learned professions;
and, as there was not one which they could
not adorn, the prejudice against them soon
wore oﬀ, and before many years they were
competing with men in all the grandest ﬁelds
1502
of human action. Even in the matter of gov-
ernment woman’s power was felt. Men were
so engrossed in the endeavor to develop to
their fullest extent the material resources of
the planet that they became careless of the
higher duties of citizenship, especially after
the women began to take control of things.
They saw aﬀairs were well managed, and
seemed to be relieved to have them taken
1503
out of their hands, not dreaming that they
were forging chains for themselves which it
would take long years to break. Although
the world was constantly growing better,
it was far from a perfect age. Human na-
ture was still a synonym for selﬁshness, and
with men and women measuring swords on
every intellectual battleﬁeld a contest for
supremacy was inevitable.
1504
”Man was absorbed in his chosen work,
he was indiﬀerent to public aﬀairs, and he
was, in his way, proud of the position woman
was taking in the world, but he could not
let her assume his place as acknowledged
leader without a struggle. He said he had
given her her rights, and now she wanted to
deprive him of his rights.
”There was too much truth in this, for
1505
society had not reached a state where the
sexes could live in perfect equality. It was
admitted by all that there must be a head,
both in the household and in the state, and
it long remained a question which should
rule. But was there ever a struggle of long
continuance on the earth in which mind did
not triumph at last?”
”I must answer in the negative,” replied
1506
the doctor, ”although I perceive it will help
your argument.”
”Why, this is not an argument,” contin-
ued Zenith. ”It is simply a story of what has
taken place on this planet. If you have any
doubt of it, ask Thorwald. You have known
him longer than you have me, and, per-
haps, would have more conﬁdence in what
he would say. He ought to have told this
1507
part of the story himself. I know you think
I am exaggerating, because you see I am
making my sex come out ahead.”
Zenith said this in a playful manner,
which showed she was as far as possible
from being oﬀended, but the doctor pre-
tended to take her seriously, and replied
with feeling:
”Do forgive me, Zenith, for my thought-
1508
less expression, and pray do not stop in
your narrative at this interesting point. I
will tell you how I came to use the word to
which you object. While you were talking I
was thinking how one would be received on
the earth, who should attempt an argument
to show the probability that anything like
what you are telling us should ever come to
pass there.”
1509
”Well, how would such an argument be
received?” asked Zenith.
”It would probably be passed by with-
out any notice whatever, if you will excuse
me for telling the truth,” answered the doc-
tor. ”It certainly would not be looked upon
as serious, and I fear it would not even
receive the dignity of being called funny.
Even the women would laugh feebly at the
1510
extravagant notion, and think no more of
it. But we were talking of Mars, not of
the earth, and I am exceedingly anxious to
know how aﬀairs progressed here, though
there is no likelihood that they will ever be
paralleled among us.”
”I would not be too sure, Doctor,” spoke
up Thorwald. ”Better wait till Zenith is
through.”
1511
”I shall wait longer than that before I
believe the earth will ever go through such
an experience. But now I am ready to lis-
ten.”
”When I speak of woman assuming lead-
ership,” resumed Zenith, ”do not misunder-
stand me. Although society was not per-
fect, still it was not a gross age, and there
was no return to the manners of those rude
1512
times when women were cruelly treated and
men took all the good in the world to them-
selves. Oh, no, there was no absence of
good manners. Women treated men with
the greatest courtesy, showing them every
mark of outward respect, and being much
more polite to them than to each other.
And it was not all show, either; for, in spite
of the fact that the men were patronized
1513
unmercifully, the women really thought a
great deal of them, and often remarked to
each other that the world would be a dull
and uninviting place without them. They
admired their robust strength of body, their
brawny arms and well-trained hands, as well
as their many excellent qualities of mind;
and they never tired of telling them in hon-
eyed words how necessary they were to their
1514
happiness.
”The women were very considerate also
in the matter of laws. The rights of the
men were well looked after. To be sure,
they were not allowed to vote and hold of-
ﬁce, but in their fortunate, happy condi-
tion it was incredible that they should care
about a little thing like that. Were they
not perfectly protected by the law, and did
1515
they not have as much to do already as was
good for them? The women argued that if
the men were given the right of suﬀrage it
would only be the cranks who would avail
themselves of it, for the great mass of the
men were perfectly satisﬁed with their con-
dition.
”A man was allowed the right of dower
in his deceased wife’s estate, and he could
1516
hold property in his own right, even after
marriage. His wife could not even deed
away her real estate without his consent.
By this you see how carefully the men were
shielded from the liability of coming to want.
”In matters of the heart it was not con-
sidered modest for a man to make a direct
proposal, but in reality the aﬀair was in
his hands, for no woman could make any
1517
advance unless she received encouragement
from the object of her aﬀections.”
”How about the home?” asked the doc-
tor. ”Did man take the place of woman
there?”
”He did whatever he was asked to do
in the home. You must know that at this
time domestic duties were quite diﬀerent
from what they formerly were. Men had not
1518
given up all their thought and time to hand-
icraft for nothing. The drudgery had pretty
well disappeared under the full play of the
inventive faculties, so that the home duties
were not exacting. What work there was,
was shared by the sexes, each doing that
which was appropriate. The management
of the home was, of course, in the hands of
the women.”
1519
”Was there no department in which the
men were masters?” inquired the doctor.
”Not one. They thought they were in
full charge in their peculiar ﬁeld of labor,
but here, as everywhere, the women dic-
tated their terms when they chose.”
The doctor was bound to learn all he
could about this curious state of things, and
asked again:
1520
”What eﬀect did all this strain upon
the mind have on woman’s physical nature?
You have admitted that she was weaker in
body than man, and it seems to me she
must have been ill prepared for the struggle
you have narrated. From the experience we
have had in educating women, we believe
it is a positive injury to them to attempt
to reach that high degree of culture which
1521
is easily and safely compassed by men. Our
idea is that nature never intended that they
should study much, for their minds are re-
ally not any stronger than their bodies. Too
much brain work has already ruined the
health of a good many girls, and when we
left the earth the reaction against the higher
education of woman had fairly begun. For
we believe that her mental faculties can be
1522
developed only at the expense of her physi-
cal powers, and that if she were to persist in
such an abnormal cultivation of her intellect
it would be sure to result in the deteriora-
tion of her oﬀspring and disaster to the race.
So, for the sake of the generations unborn,
we–that is, the male men of the earth–who
still retain our grip on aﬀairs, have about
decided to put a stop to this foolish mania
1523
among our young women. We will proba-
bly pass laws, setting a limit in the several
branches of study beyond which girls shall
not be allowed to go, either at school or pri-
vately.”
We all laughed heartily at this idea, in-
cluding the doctor himself, who continued:
”Well, what else can we do to stop them?
Stop them we must, or we shall soon be-
1524
come a race of weaklings and mental imbe-
ciles.”
Thorwald had been getting more and
more interested, as I could see by his face,
and now broke out with:
”Doctor, you surprise me. I have ac-
quired such a respect for your intelligence
that I can hardly believe you serious. If
Zenith will excuse me, I should like to an-
1525
swer your question. Hard study did not
hurt our young women, and it never hurts
anyone. It is careless living and a disre-
gard of the laws of health that do the harm.
Physical training was an important part of
the education of our women. They could
never have accomplished what they did with-
out sound bodies, and it must be unneces-
sary for me to say that the more highly cul-
1526
tured they became the more our race im-
proved. Learning never made poor moth-
ers. Ignorance does that. Do not keep ed-
ucation out of the home. Keep out folly,
low desires, sordid ambitions, uncultivated
tastes, narrow-mindedness, envy, strife, waste-
fulness, inordinate pleasures, and every evil
thing that comes from an empty, ignorant
mind. Keep out the darkness; let in the
1527
light. It is not God’s way to give capacity
and desire for noble things, and then shut
the door to their attainment.”
”Many thanks, Thorwald,” exclaimed Zenith,
”for your good help. And now, Doctor, will
you ask anything further?”
”I must admit,” answered the doctor,
”that your experience gives you more knowl-
edge of the subject than we possess, and
1528
perhaps we are wrong. Of course, we want
that to come to pass which will be best
for our race. But let me ask if the gen-
tler sex, as we call them, did not lose, by
such superior culture, their gentleness and
their charm. The masculine type of woman
is not at all popular with us.”
”This question, Doctor,” answered Zenith,
”shows that you have a poor conception
1529
of our condition at that time. This great
change in society had been gradual, and I
must remind you that by the time it was ac-
complished the world was much improved
in every way, although, as we have seen,
it was by no means perfect. In her treat-
ment of man there was none of that domi-
neering spirit which you might expect; and
the victory she had achieved was never used
1530
harshly. Her reign, if ﬁrm, was mild. And
woman herself, in the general betterment
of things, had improved, even in the direc-
tion you mention. Instead of becoming less
womanly, in her changed condition, every
admirable quality in her had ripened to-
ward perfection, while she had thrown oﬀ
much that was disagreeable and unlovely in
her disposition. In personal appearance the
1531
advance had been remarkable. Being re-
lieved of the severe labor and sordid cares
which were once her lot, and with her mind
set free by high culture and her artistic tastes
developed, nature asserted itself by making
her truly a delight to the eye and a comfort
to the heart of mankind. Whatever charms
she possessed in her old life were now dou-
bled, making her indeed a blessing to the
1532
world and preparing her for the next great
change, which came with the advent of the
present age.”
”In spite of the sweetness and beauty
surrounding them, did not men fret at the
ﬁrm hand that held them down?”
”At ﬁrst, yes. But as time went on it
came to be looked upon so naturally that
it was hardly thought of as a thing which
1533
should not be.”
”How long did such a state of things
continue?”
”It continued until our race had out-
grown all such trivial things as selﬁsh am-
bition and personal strife, until our charac-
ters had ripened for a higher service than
the old world had ever dreamed of, and un-
til love reigned in our hearts, supreme and
1534
unquestionable.”
”What makes the situation seem so strange
to you is because it is so contrary to your
experience. Let me see if I cannot make it
look more reasonable to you by epitomizing
our history on the subject in this way:
”Our career is made up of three eras.
The ﬁrst was one of brute force, when man
ruled by strength of body and subdued the
1535
world to our use. Everything weaker than
himself, even woman, his natural helper,
was made to feel the power of his arm. This
age lasted long, but its rigor slowly passed
away, and it merged gradually into the sec-
ond era, which was one of mind. Here, too,
man thought to rule, claiming the leader-
ship by right of possession and natural en-
dowment. But woman’s sharpness of intel-
1536
lect was more than a match for him when
it was given full opportunity, and she won,
as we have seen, after a long struggle. The
third and present era is a spiritual one. In
the realm of the spirit men and women are
equally endowed, and hence it is that in this
age you ﬁnd the two sexes living in perfect
equality.
”Comparing the words you have spoken
1537
with what I have read of our history, I con-
clude that the earth is now passing from the
ﬁrst to the second era. The struggle is on.
Soon your sex will be considering the ques-
tion of the emancipation of man. You have
the sincere sympathy of both Thorwald and
myself, and that you may emerge from your
trials as happily as we have from ours is our
heartfelt wish.”
1538
Zenith closed, and the doctor was silent.
CHAPTER XXXV.
AN EXALTED THEME.
The doctor and I had not forgotten that
Thorwald still held in store for us a talk on
the most important theme of all. We won-
1539
dered why he did not give it to us, as he had
many opportunities in those days of quiet
pleasure. He seemed to take great delight in
hearing from us everything we chose to tell,
asking numerous questions which showed a
growing knowledge of the earth and its in-
habitants.
It was the doctor who ﬁnally inquired
when we were going to hear what he had
1540
promised us.
”I suppose I have been waiting,” answered
Thorwald, ”for you to ask for it. I could
listen to your talk a great deal longer with
pleasure and proﬁt. It is astonishing how
closely your history matches ours up to your
times. The period you have been describing
to me as that in which you live corresponds
with a similar age here. It was a time of
1541
great activity and rapid change, and one
whose records make a deep impression on
many of our writers, judging from the at-
tention they give to it. It was an enviable
time to live in, if you compare it with the
previous ages, but chieﬂy on account of the
promise it contained of the glorious day to
come.
”Doctor, are you sure you desire to hear
1542
about the growth of Christianity in this world
and the blessings it has brought us?”
”Most certainly,” answered my compan-
ion. ”I want to learn all I can of your his-
tory and present condition, and, as religion
seems to occupy a chief place in both, any-
thing you may say on the subject will be
listened to with delight.”
Perhaps Thorwald was a little disappointed
1543
because the doctor did not give a more per-
sonal reason; but he failed to show it if he
was, and, after calling to Zenith to come
and sit with us, he began:
”Fair shines the sun on this fair world.
So shines the sun on other fair worlds. Its
piercing rays dart out in all directions from
the great glowing mass, and as they ﬂy out-
ward they lose in brilliancy and intensity
1544
every second. In eight minutes some of these
rays are intercepted by the earth and ﬁnd
there an atmosphere well adapted to receive
them. In twelve minutes some strike this
world, and although they are less powerful
than those that fall on the earth, the condi-
tions here are favorable for their reception.
At varying distances from the center other
rays ﬁnd other planets as ready to welcome
1545
them, no doubt, as ours are.
”As the sun is in the physical universe,
so is the Sun of righteousness in the domain
of the spirit. Inﬁnite in power, wisdom,
and love, he comes wherever there are souls
to save, shedding light in every dark spot,
bringing life and hope and comfort, and lift-
ing men out of the darkness of sin up to
a condition of peace and happiness. Many
1546
ages ago he came to this planet, and started
into life those forces which have brought us
to our present state. Then he came to the
earth, and you are at this time beginning to
feel more intensely the impulse of his mis-
sion.”
”Your illustration is a forcible one,” said
the doctor, as Thorwald paused a moment,
”and weakens my former position, which
1547
would make it necessary for me to believe
that all the rays of the sun, except the few
that fall on Mars and the earth, are lost. It
seems to me now quite reasonable that some
do their beneﬁcent work on other planets
also.”
”Yes,” answered Thorwald, ”whenever
they are ready to receive them. And now
I hope to lead you to see that the same in-
1548
telligence that made the sun and gave to
its rays such power has been present as a
personal force in this world, molding it to
his use and raising up a people here for his
service and glory.
”In the perfect plan of that omniscient
being the advent of the Savior occurred at
the most opportune moment. Deep in the
heart of one nation, ﬁrmly grounded in their
1549
nature by ages of discipline and suﬀering,
lay the belief in one only God. The other
nations of the world, surfeited with sinful
pleasure and worn out with a vain pursuit
of happiness, were ready to abandon the
gods of their imaginations. Some lofty souls
among them, following intently every prompt-
ing of their better nature, had developed
high characters, while of God’s peculiar peo-
1550
ple many pure hearts waited, with joyful ex-
pectancy, the coming of the promised Sav-
ior.
”He came, the lowly, patient one, and,
although the world was made by him, it
knew him not. The greatest event in the
history of the globe passed almost without
notice; but the seed was planted, and in
God’s own time the growth began, which
1551
has ﬁlled our happy world with the perfect
ﬂower of Christianity.
”The religion which Jesus taught aimed
to save the race. It was universal, not only
as adapted to all nations, but as ﬁtted to
regenerate and perfect the whole nature of
man–body, mind, and soul. It would take
me too long to tell all the changes it wrought.
It found the heart hard and unfeeling, and
1552
made it tender and loving. It found men
ﬁlled with every evil passion and almost
without a desire to be better, and it gave
them a longing to be free from sin and pure
in heart. It found the race in darkness and
despair, and brought them hope and light
and comfort. Above all, it attacked the de-
mon of selﬁshness and gave men the promise
that in time they should be entirely free
1553
from its power.
”Slowly the truths of Christianity spread.
The missionary spirit was born and the gospel
was carried to remote lands. It was ever
God’s way to work through the agency of
his creatures, whether these be brute forces
or intelligent beings. And so through im-
perfect men the perfect rule of life made
feeble progress. But as it was the work of
1554
the Spirit, there was never any danger, even
in the darkest ages, that the gospel would
not triumph over all the sin and degrada-
tion of the world, and lift men to a higher
plane.
”For a long period the truth lay buried
beneath ignorance and superstition. Then
came an awakening, and men, with their
minds more enlightened and their consciences
1555
quickened, began to catch something of the
true spirit of the gospel. Christianity now
became a dominant power. Under its be-
nign sway civilization advanced, intelligence
spread, and Christian nations outstripped
all others and extended their power to ev-
ery part of the globe.
”Soon the ameliorating inﬂuences of the
gospel were felt on every hand. Govern-
1556
ment began to be administered with more
regard for the interest of the governed, and
men came to receive consideration simply
because they were men. All the aggravated
forms of oppression ceased under the new-
born spirit of human brotherhood, a senti-
ment brought into the world by the founder
of Christianity.
”This brings us, my friends, up to that
1557
intense age of which I have spoken before,
and which you say you recognize as that
corresponding with the time in which you
are living on the earth. Let me state brieﬂy
the condition of some of our aﬀairs of that
period.
”The industrial world was in a ferment,
as we have seen, and it was only in a gen-
eral and impersonal way that the Christian
1558
religion shed its inﬂuence on the majority
of the actors in that drama. Individuals,
among both employers and workmen, had
good impulses and indulged them as much
as they could, and I am inclined to think
this class was larger than most of our writ-
ers admit. But we read that the greater
part were moved chieﬂy by motives of self-
interest. Still, Christianity was a growing
1559
force among them, and they could not en-
tirely escape its inﬂuence. They were born
under its elevating power, and, even if they
did not acknowledge its sway, they were
quite diﬀerent men from those who lived be-
fore Jesus began to preach the law of love.
This remark will apply to all the people of
that day who were born under Christian
skies, and yet acknowledged no personal al-
1560
legiance to the Savior. They were the un-
conscious heirs of a priceless inheritance.”
”I just want to say, Thorwald,” the doc-
tor interrupted, ”that I can accept that idea
fully now, with respect to the people of the
earth, though at one time I should not have
been willing to do so.”
Thorwald smiled his answer, and with-
out further reply continued:
1561
”Let us look at the business situation.
National and local governments had begun
to extend their powers beyond what had be-
fore been considered legitimate. With one
excuse or another they had taken out of
private hands many branches of business,
and there was a strong tendency toward a
continuance of the policy. There was no
diﬀerence in principle between carrying the
1562
mails and carrying freight and passengers,
or between giving the people cheap water
in their houses and furnishing them with
cheap coal.
”It was acknowledged that there were
certain things which the city or state could
do better than private enterprise, and the
diﬃculty was to decide where to draw the
line. While this uncertainty existed in the
1563
minds of most people, there was a small but
aggressive party who were in favor of not
drawing the line at all, but of putting ev-
erything into the hands of the government.
They would have had the people, in their
corporate capacity as a nation, raise and
distribute the products of the soil, do all the
manufacturing and dispose of the goods to
consumers, conduct all the trades and pro-
1564
fessions, and, in fact, carry on every kind
of business necessary to the well-being of
society.”
Of course, this woke up the doctor, whose
practical mind could see nothing attractive
in such an arrangement as that, and he was
moved to say:
”I trust, Thorwald, that your ancestors
did not adopt that crazy scheme as an ex-
1565
perimental step in their development. But
I beg your pardon for using such vigorous
language without knowing whether they did
or not.”
Thorwald smiled, as he answered:
”You are safe, Doctor. From actual ex-
perience we cannot tell what the result of
such a trial would be, for the vast majority
of the writers, and the people too, of the
1566
period were opposed to the plan, and no
doubt with good reason.
”But I do not wonder that this idea had
a fascination for some right- minded people,
in the promise it gave of doing away with
the evils arising from competition, to which
I have before referred.”
Thorwald paused here, as if to invite one
of us to speak, if he wanted to do so. I
1567
accepted, by saying:
”I wish you would tell us a little more on
that subject. Competition is said to be the
life of trade with us, an accepted principle
of honest business. And yet you speak of
it as something that should be done away
with.”
”If you could know,” answered Thor-
wald, ”how repugnant the idea is to us of
1568
the present day, you would understand how
truly you have voiced my feelings.”
”I have no doubt,” I said, ”that your ex-
perience has taught you much on the sub-
ject that we do not know, but this is the
way it looks from our standpoint: There is
born in us a passion for getting that which
belongs to others, or that which others are
trying to get. In some of us this instinct
1569
is developed more than in others, and some
are unprincipled enough to indulge it un-
justly; but let me ask you if it is wrong to
follow the leadings of such a desire if we are
strictly honest in all our dealings.”
”We might diﬀer over the meaning of
the phrase ’strictly honest,’ but I will an-
swer your question by saying it is certainly
wrong.”
1570
”But it seems to be a part of our very
nature.”
”Do you oﬀer that as a reason for its
being right? I never heard you claim that
human nature was perfect,” said Thorwald.
”Then,” I returned, ”in our present state,
with which you are now pretty well acquainted,
is it not possible to carry the principles of
Christianity into business?”
1571
”To answer that as I should be obliged
to do would make me appear to you too
arbitrary, and so perhaps I had better let
you ﬁnd your own answer in the questions
which I will ask you. Is not unselﬁshness
one of the ﬁrst principles of Christianity?
Now, the very essence of competition is a
regard for self-interest, with no room for
thought about the interests of others. In an
1572
ideal state of society the rules of life given
by Jesus are fully obeyed. In such a state,
would a transaction be right where each
person was trying to do what was best for
himself, although it might be to the dam-
age or loss of another? It might be called
honest to own slaves, and probably in the
history of the earth a great many sincere
Christian people have owned them, but you
1573
have now reached that condition, I think,
where you can see it is wrong. So your
way of doing business may be honest, but
in our more ideal state we see that it is
not right. Our remote ancestors, through
the various stages of our development, did
a thousand things with clear consciences
which we could not do now. I understand
your situation perfectly, and am sure your
1574
race will outgrow its imperfections.”
I thanked Thorwald for his faith in us,
and he resumed his narrative.
”In the age of which I am speaking,” he
said, ”the church was taking a prominent
place in the world, but had not assumed the
leading position which it afterward reached.
Many nations were still without the light of
the gospel, and even in nominal Christian
1575
lands the actual supporters of the church
were in the minority. In the midst of much
evil and many discouragements the church
was trying to regenerate society, but it had
a diﬃcult task, partly on account of the
great perversity of the human heart, and
partly because the church itself was not free
from the imperfections of the age. Its mem-
bers represented all shades of spirituality,
1576
the great majority of them having but a
faint appreciation of the glorious cause in
which they had enlisted. They called them-
selves soldiers of the cross, but were so bur-
dened with the ordinary but more press-
ing duties and occupations of life that they
never dreamed of the grandeur of the ser-
vice, nor of the brilliant deeds of which the
church was soon to show itself capable.
1577
”One chief hindrance to the growth of
the church and to the spread of its inﬂu-
ence was the spirit of division within itself.
Theoretically, all believers, the world over,
were one body, or church, but in point of
fact there were many churches, and in some
particulars they were quite sharply opposed
to each other. This evil was in full force in
that age, but there were signs in the air that
1578
it was not to remain forever a stumbling-
block to the faith of the world.”
”We are aﬄicted in the same way,” said
I, ”and some of us are hopeful enough to
look forward to a really united church. But
many think it is a part of our nature to
diﬀer, and are not able to see how all can
ever come to think alike. They say that
if by a miracle all should be brought into
1579
one church, and then left to their own incli-
nations, in a short time there would be as
many sects as there are now.”
”And so there would,” returned Thor-
wald, ”with your present ways. Your imper-
fect nature must change under the soften-
ing inﬂuence of the gospel. The diﬀerences
that cause such trouble come from each in-
dividual’s selﬁsh regard for his own opin-
1580
ion. All must learn not only to respect but
to embrace the opinions of each other when
they are right opinions. Two streams may
run in parallel channels forever if each per-
sists in following strictly its own course. If
one turns toward the other and the other
turns away, they will still be kept apart;
but let each turn toward the other, and how
quickly they come together.”
1581
I told Thorwald I could apply his illus-
tration to our condition and we would try
to proﬁt by it.
”One of the promising features of the
religious situation,” he continued, ”was the
good start the church had made in mission-
ary work. In the zeal with which this was
taken up it was quite a new departure for
the church, for not long before this time
1582
good men believed that if God intended to
save the heathen he would do it without any
help from man. But now success had come
in the work in suﬃcient measure to greatly
encourage the faithful souls engaged in it.
”When I speak of zeal, however, you
must understand that this quality was con-
ﬁned to a few people. Nearly all were only
half-hearted Christians at the best, doing
1583
something, to be sure, but not at all alive
to the grand opportunity of bringing the
world to the feet of the Savior. Only here
and there was one found who was ready
to give himself unselﬁshly to the work, and
the amount of money given to advance the
cause of Christ, at home and abroad, was
small indeed compared to that spent in lux-
urious living and hurtful indulgences.
1584
”At the same time, it was an age of
progress. The ordinary span of life was long
enough to show improvement in many ways,
and men, seeing the rapid advancement the
world was making, took courage and looked
forward more conﬁdently for the dawn of a
brighter day. Religion was beginning to be
more of an every-day matter, and Chris-
tians were coming to a faint realization of
1585
the real value of the gospel in its adapta-
tion to all the needs of men. Care for the
body, better ways of living, and right con-
duct toward others were all taught, as well
as duty to God, and society began to feel
the beneﬁt of such sensible teaching.”
1586
CHAPTER XXXVI.
VANQUISHED AGAIN BY A VOICE.
We all hoped Mona’s aﬄiction would
prove temporary, but after a number of days
had passed, and no improvement appeared,
Thorwald had an expert anatomist come
to the house and make an examination of
the organs of her throat. Although this
1587
was a new way in which to apply his skill,
as the Martians of that era were all physi-
cally perfect, he thought he might be able
to discover the cause of the trouble. The
result of this experiment was somewhat re-
assuring, for our scientist told us there was
no defect of organ or injury to any part,
closing his report with the remark that the
case presented the greatest mystery of the
1588
kind he had ever encountered. My compan-
ion, the doctor, now expressed his opinion,
which coincided with my own. This was,
that Mona’s trouble was occasioned by the
shock to her nervous system when she was
plunged into the water, an element which
she so much dreaded. Our good friends, in-
cluding the expert, were utterly unable to
understand the meaning of this theory. The
1589
remark that Zenith made was:
”Why, but for our friend, and others
who pry into these things for us, we would
never know we had any nerves.”
”Happy will our race be,” responded the
doctor, ”when it arrives at the same blissful
ignorance.”
”Well,” continued Zenith, ”if your opin-
ion is the correct one, what have we to hope
1590
for in Mona’s case?”
”Unfortunately,” answered the doctor,
”we have no experience to teach us what to
expect. We can only hope with you that
she may speedily recover her voice, which
has seemed to form such a great part of her,
and has given us all so much delight.”
Perhaps it was imagination, but it seemed
to me that Mona’s behavior toward me was
1591
more aﬀectionate than it had formerly been.
She had told me before, to be sure, that
she had loved me with all her heart, but
in these latter days she appeared to seek
my society more and to show other indica-
tions that her love was assuming more of
the personal element for which I had once
so assiduously sought. But how was it with
myself? This question forced itself on me,
1592
one day, and I was a little startled to ﬁnd
that an answer did not spring up sponta-
neously. Was it possible that my love was
becoming cold? I would not admit it. Just
as the poor girl had lost her chief attrac-
tion, should I turn from her and forget all
my former professions? On the ﬁrst suspi-
cion that such might possibly be my desire,
I said it was a wicked thought and I should
1593
never let it be true. But even if I could not
force my heart to remain faithful, no one
should ever know it but myself.
A little more time elapsed and I discov-
ered that, in spite of my brave resolutions,
Mona, silent, was ﬁlling less and less of my
thoughts, and that I was living on the pre-
cious memory of her lost voice. But this
discovery did not shake my determination
1594
ever to be to Mona herself a true and faith-
ful lover.
At this juncture I was sitting alone, one
morning, going over in my mind the strange
vicissitudes of my love aﬀair, when, in a far-
distant part of the house, I heard a sound
which thrilled me. I stopped all motion and
listened, my heart, however, trembling with
the fear of a disappointment. The music,
1595
for it was sweet music to me, came nearer,
and now I could not be mistaken. What
joy ﬁlled my heart! How impossible to for-
get that voice! I sat still and let it come.
She evidently knew where I was and was
coming to ﬁnd me, pouring forth her heart
in the way she knew I adored. Where now
were my fears that my heart was growing
cold toward her? Could it be possible that I
1596
had ever doubted my aﬀection for her since
I ﬁrst heard her sing? Nearer it comes, ﬁll-
ing my ears now with its familiar melody, a
song without words but full of meaning for
one who hears aright. She is guided true
by the lamp of love and is now in the next
room. I cannot wait, but interrupt her song
with this cry:
”Come to me, my love, come quickly. I
1597
know your voice and the meaning of your
song, and my heart responds to yours.”
The strain continues, and soon a form
appears in the doorway. I spring from my
seat and start to meet it, but fall back al-
most immediately in confusion.
”Oh, Avis,” I exclaimed with vexation,
”I thought you were Mona again. I sup-
posed you were on the other side of the
1598
world.”
”I was, but I have come back to sing for
you. I heard poor Mona had lost her voice
and I wanted to do what I could to ﬁll her
place. But I fear you are not pleased with
me.”
”My dear friend,” I replied, ”I beg your
pardon for the abrupt manner in which I re-
ceived you. I thought Mona had suddenly
1599
recovered her voice and was coming in the
fullness of her joy to tell me about it, and
you can imagine my disappointment when
I discovered my mistake. But now I assure
you I am glad to have your sympathy and
delighted to know that you are to be near
me. Please go on with the song which I
so rudely interrupted, and let me hear your
voice as often as possible. It is exceedingly
1600
fortunate for me to have you here while
Mona is recovering. Will you stay till she
can sing again, or do you think it is too
selﬁsh in me to make such a request?”
Instead of answering me, Avis began to
sing again, and in a twinkling I had forgot-
ten my question and everything else in the
enjoyment of the moment.
I now wanted little to make me supremely
1601
happy. There was Mona herself, with her
exquisite beauty and friendly manner, and
there was Mona’s voice in the mouth of one
who liked me enough to go half around the
world to entertain me. And, if the truth
must be told, my heart inclined more and
more toward the voice. This was a startling
truth indeed when it ﬁrst fell upon me, and
I fully determined that no one else should
1602
know it. Mona should never discover that
I loved her less because she could not sing,
and Avis should never know that her mar-
velous song was beginning to make the singer
dear to me.
Whenever I found myself alone I could
think of nothing but this perplexing sub-
ject. As I dwelt upon my situation, I told
myself I must be careful, and avoid get-
1603
ting into trouble. Mona was becoming more
and more tender toward me every day, and
now Avis had come, unconsciously storm-
ing the seat of my aﬀections with Mona’s
own voice. I felt that I was in some dan-
ger of embarrassing myself before the rest
of my friends, and it behooved me to sim-
plify matters if possible.
First, I must ﬁnd out to a certainty just
1604
how I stood with Mona. Notwithstanding
the admission which I had been forced to
make to myself, I felt that it must be right
for me to continue to devote myself to Mona,
even if my heart did not bound toward her
as in the days of my exuberant love. I
should indeed be unworthy of her to give
her up now. When I considered my former
depth of feeling, I fairly despised myself for
1605
entertaining for a moment the possibility
of her becoming less dear to me. But, for
all that, I knew deep in my heart that the
charm which had held me to her was gone,
and I knew of no way to arrest and bring
back my wandering aﬀections.
Still, it could not be right for me to let
her know I was changing. What would she
think of me, and what opinion would Thor-
1606
wald and Zenith have? I must own that the
latter consideration had a good deal of force
with me, for I did not want to lower myself
and our whole race in their eyes.
So I prepared the form of speech with
which to address Mona again on the old
subject. It seemed strange that she should
begin to grow fond of me just as soon as my
love began to cool, and I determined with
1607
all my will never to let her know the state
of my heart.
Not long after I had made this resolu-
tion, I was surprised to have the doctor tell
me he was sorry to see I was not so partial to
Mona’s society since she had lost her voice.
I do not remember what I said to him in re-
ply, but I know his remark set me thinking
hard. Perhaps other observers had noticed
1608
the same thing and were too considerate of
my feelings to speak of it. Surely, I must
have matters put upon a better footing at
once.
As for Mona, she was never happier in
her life, if we could judge from her actions.
She had now learned to talk so well in her
mute language that we all found conversa-
tion with her comparatively easy. Her fas-
1609
cinating manners made her interesting al-
ways, and in spite of her great loss she was
still an important part of the life of the
house. I argued to myself that my heart
must be hard indeed if I could not continue
to love her. To me her behavior was charac-
terized by such a peculiar sweetness that I
knew she was ready, on a word from me, to
recall some of the harsh things she had said
1610
and to own a love quite diﬀerent in kind
from her regard for others.
The opportunity soon came to speak to
her, and I embraced it. ”Mona,” I said, ”I
want to make a little speech to you. First,
let me ask you if I can introduce a subject
on which you have more than once stopped
my mouth. Perhaps you know what I mean.”
”Oh, yes,” she replied, ”I remember it
1611
very well, and you may talk all you please
about it now. You must forgive me if I was
unkind before and used my voice to vex you.
But I am surprised to have you bring up this
topic.”
”Why?”
”Because I thought from your manner
that you did not love me as you used to.”
By this time the speech that I had pre-
1612
pared was all out of my head, and I was
wondering if it were possible that I had lost
so much of my aﬀection for Mona that she
had discovered it by a change in my man-
ner. In reply to her remark I said:
”But such a thought has not made you
unhappy, Mona, if I may judge from your
behavior. I have never seen you more cheer-
ful and full of life.”
1613
”No,” she responded, ”I think it has had
the contrary eﬀect. I was rather relieved to
ﬁnd you were recovering from your foolish-
ness, and I thought we would now be able to
live in peace, treating each other in a kind
and sensible manner. I am disappointed to
ﬁnd that you are still clinging to the old
idea, but I will not object to your saying
all you please on the subject, for I have my
1614
own reasons now for being gracious to you.”
”That’s the very thing I want to ask you
about, Mona. I have noticed your great
kindness of late, and have supposed it came
from the fact that you were learning to love
me in my way; that is, somewhat to the
exclusion of others. Isn’t it that?”
”I think you will not be pained when I
say you have had a wrong impression.”
1615
”Why do you think such a discovery will
not pain me?”
”Because I am sure you do not care for
me now in the same way as before. It was
my voice that inthralled you. In all this
interview you have not once said you love
me, and you know at one time you could
say nothing else. But let me tell you why I
have shown an extra tenderness toward you
1616
recently. It was because I feared you would
think I blamed you for my misfortune. I
wanted to let you know I had not the least
unkind feeling and that, in spite of the loss
of my voice, I was as happy and contented
as ever.”
”Well, after all, you do love me a little,
do you not, Mona?”
”Why, of course I do, just as much as
1617
ever. And now let us go right along and
be nice to each other. We will love each
other and love everybody else just the same,
and you must promise not to look disturbed
any more when I am talking with Foedric;
but you have been very good about that of
late.”
”I will promise,” I answered; ”but what
will you do if you ﬁnd I am loving another
1618
person more than you?”
”Oh, I cannot understand what you mean
by loving more and loving less. It is a strange
idea to me, and I hope I shall never get ac-
customed to it. My way is to love every-
body with all my heart, and that’s an end
of it. Don’t you see in that way I escape all
the worry and vexation which you seem to
have in the matter? As to your loving an-
1619
other, you will pardon me if I say it will be
a great relief to me for you to do so. I have
not been used to being the sole recipient of
any person’s aﬀection, and I shall rejoice to
be freed from the responsibility. If you have
thought me happy heretofore, you will now
be astonished at my sprightliness. I sup-
pose you refer to Antonia. She is a lovely
girl, and–”
1620
”Allow me,” I interrupted; but before I
could go on with my denial that voice again
fell on my ears–so distant and low that I
held my breath to listen. At ﬁrst Mona did
not hear it, but it soon increased in volume;
and now, as the sweet sounds came pouring
upon us, my companion saw how I was af-
fected, and said in her sign language:
”Oh, I was mistaken. Antonia is not the
1621
one.”
My heart was now all aﬂame, and, with
Mona by my side and gazing into my glow-
ing face, I almost forgot her presence in
the approach of one whose song had such
power. Was she old? Music like that is
never old. Why should not my heart go out
to her? She was still beautiful and not so
old as I had supposed. And then, of course,
1622
people in that advanced condition, did not
wear out in a few years as they did on the
earth. As for her size, she was rather small
for a Martian, and I, living under new con-
ditions, would certainly take a start before
many days, and no doubt become as large
as Foedric, almost.
These ingenuous sentiments came to me
with the sweet accents of that melodious
1623
song, and when Avis appeared I had great
diﬃculty to keep from making some foolish
exhibition of my feelings.
At my next sober moment, that is, when
I was by myself, and out of hearing of that
intoxicating music, it was very easy for me
to realize my ridiculous situation, but not
so easy to tell how I was to escape from it.
As to my relations with Mona herself, I was
1624
greatly relieved by our last conversation. I
certainly need no longer feel obliged to tie
my vagrant heart to her. She would not
miss it if it never once showed itself again,
but how could I hope to preserve any sort
of character in the eyes of my other friends?
What sport the doctor would make of me
if he knew how I felt toward Avis. He little
thought that this was the daughter of Mars
1625
most likely to bring me to my knees.
And the doctor would have good reason
for whatever enjoyment he might have at
my expense, for I felt at ﬁrst that I did not
deserve any sympathy. When away from
the powerful inﬂuence of that voice I was
myself, and could see everything in its true
perspective, but it is diﬃcult to describe the
change that came over me as soon as those
1626
entrancing notes fell upon my ear. The mu-
sic sent great waves of emotion through my
being, the storm center generally appear-
ing to be the seat of my aﬀections. My
heart would beat fast, going out toward the
singer in sympathy and love. The doubts of
propriety belonging to my sane moments–
hesitation, argument, uncertainty–all went
in a ﬂash, and I was almost ready to throw
1627
myself before her and proclaim my love with-
out shame or embarrassment. At such times
I felt that I could hold my head up in view
of all the inhabitants of Mars and prove to
them that I was not ﬁckle, but as steadfast
as constancy itself in following always one
and the same attraction. Was I not as true
to the best that was in me, when my heart
was ravished by the voice of Avis, as I was
1628
when I had loved Mona so tenderly for the
same sweet charm?
As day followed day in this delightful
home, it was the society of Avis which I
continually sought, and I was never quite
happy except in her presence, or, at least,
within hearing distance of her voice. And it
was not long before the constant association
of Avis with the music I loved so well began,
1629
even when I was not listening to her, to
draw my aﬀections toward one who, at will,
could exert such power over me.
Mona was still herself, the same friendly,
joyous creature as ever, but the knowledge
that I could never gain her undivided af-
fection helped to cure my infatuation. And
now, with my heart free, why should I not
love Avis? The mere fact that she was an
1630
inhabitant of Mars proved that she was far
too good for me, but I could see by the
example of Foedric and Antonia that Avis
would never, in consequence of her high de-
velopment, have any scruples against loving
one person more than others.
When I had fully persuaded myself that
I was perfectly consistent in my present course,
I became quite anxious to know what oth-
1631
ers would think of me. But I was too much
afraid of the doctor’s criticism to conﬁde my
secret to him. I must try one of the Mar-
tians, whose high breeding and true cour-
tesy would not permit them to make light
of one’s feelings on so serious a subject.
So it was to Zenith that I went for sym-
pathy. She had been more than kind to me,
and it is remarkable how easy and perfectly
1632
at home she made me feel in her company.
”Zenith,” I began, ”I want to consult
you on a delicate subject, and I will ﬁrst
ask you a rather abrupt question. Will you
give us your permission to take Avis back
to the earth with us?”
A Martian never loses self-possession and
is never at a loss what to say to the most
unexpected proposition.
1633
”Well, that is abrupt,” Zenith quickly
responded. ”Do you know, Thorwald and I
were talking only this morning about your
apparent fondness for the society of Avis.
Are you forgetting Mona?”
This was getting into the subject faster
than I had intended, and I determined to
take my time, so I said:
”Zenith, this province must be the New
1634
England of Mars, by the way you evade my
question and ask another.”
”But you wouldn’t expect me to answer
such a question oﬀhand. You see, it con-
tains several new ideas. First, I didn’t know
you thought of returning to the earth. Then
I am surprised that you should want to take
anybody with you. And, ﬁnally, I am more
surprised that you should choose Avis rather
1635
than Mona. Now that I have explained so
fully, may I not ask you again if this means
that you are forgetting Mona?”
”Mona is not able to sing for me,” I said.
”And do your ideas of what is right al-
low you to become indiﬀerent to her as soon
as she loses one of her attractions? Here
her misfortune would tend to make her only
more dear to one who really loved her.”
1636
To which I made haste to answer:
”I am proud to tell you, Zenith, that
such sentiments prevail on the earth, too,
and I have been trying hard to hold them
in my own breast. But in living with you I
am learning to be honest, and it would not
be right for me to deny that Mona’s chief
charm for me is gone from her, and is in the
possession of another. The voice of Avis
1637
has the same power over me that Mona’s
formerly had, and shall I ﬁght against my
growing fondness for Avis?”
”Is your race so little developed, then,”
asked Zenith, ”that your ears are the only
avenue to your hearts?”
Before I could answer, Mona herself came
bounding into the room, and Zenith contin-
ued:
1638
”There’s the poor child now. How can
you be so unkind to her?”
”Who’s unkind to me?” asked Mona in
her sign language.
”Zenith thinks I am,” I answered.
”Why, you are mistaken, Zenith; he is
just the opposite. We have always loved
each other, and I think more of him than
ever since I lost my voice, and he has ceased
1639
making serious speeches to me that I can’t
understand. I wish you could see how he
enjoys hearing Avis sing.”
In this way Mona proved to Zenith that
she was not heart-broken. I was going to
explain the matter myself, but was glad to
have Mona take it out of my hands.
The most diﬃcult task yet remained. I
must tell Avis how aﬀairs stood; and yet,
1640
was it the proper thing for me to do? I
wondered how the delicate subject of mak-
ing love was handled in Mars, where the
two sexes were perfectly equal. Which one
was to make the advances? The matter is
simple enough on the earth, where women
are inferior and dependent. Of course, they
must smother their own feelings and wait
to be discovered, while the men can make
1641
their selection, and if they do not succeed at
ﬁrst can simply try again. That is entirely
proper, and everybody knows just what to
do; but here things are probably diﬀerent. I
don’t want to make a failure in this case, as
I did with Mona, not knowing the customs
of the moon-dwellers. Perhaps my best way
will be to try a little coquetry and pretend
I do not care for her nor her singing. That
1642
may draw her on to make some avowal to
me.
I had gone so far in my deliberations,
when I was interrupted by the doctor, who
called to ask if I did not want to go out
with him. I consented reluctantly, as I pre-
ferred to go on with my thinking till I could
come to some decision. But the doctor had
a purpose in taking me out, and, as soon
1643
as a good opportunity presented itself, he
said, inquiringly:
”You ﬁnd Avis a pretty good singer?”
”Excellent.”
”And good company?”
”Excellent company. Why?”
”Oh, nothing; only I thought you were
neglecting another friend.”
”Why, Mona doesn’t care for me, and
1644
Avis does, or, at least, I think she does.”
”Do you mean by this,” inquired the
doctor, ”that you have transferred to Avis
th